LINCOLN LEE 
- GRANT * 

-AND- OTHER - 

BIOGRAPHICAL ADDRESSES 



EMORYSPEER 





7^-7 



FACING PAGE 22"; 



LINCOLN, LEE, GRANT 



N 




FRONTISPIECE 



Lincoln, Lee, Grant 

AND 

Other Biographical Addresses 



BY 
JUDGE EMORY SPEER 




New York and Washington 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1909 



# 






Copyright, 1909, by 
The Neale Publishing Company 



©rti A 



TO 
MY MOTHER 

Whose eyes, still beautiful and soft, first saw the 
light when friends of Olgethorpe were in vigorous 
life; Erskine but three years gone; Hamilton still 
deplored by many comrades of Yorktown and 
Valley Forge; Marshall with eight years to live; 
Lincoln and Lee were lads; and Brown and 
Grant, little boys — this book is lovingly inscribed. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 1 1 

Abraham Lincoln 19 

Robert Edward Lee 45 

Ulysses S. Grant 85 

James Edward Oglethorpe 109 

Alexander Hamilton 151 

John Marshall 179 

Erskine 209 

Joseph Emerson Brown 227 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Abraham Lincoln 19 

Robert Edward Lee 45 

Ulysses S. Grant 45 

James Edward Oglethorpe 109 

Alexander Hamilton 151 

John Marshall 179 

Erskine 209 

Joseph Emerson Brown 227 



INTRODUCTION. 

BY CHARLES RAY PALMER, D.D. 

Sir James Stephen wrote some sixty years ago, 
"A chain of splendid biographies constitutes the 
history of past centuries." Well-nigh inevitably, 
as we turn our eyes backward, our search is for the 
men in whom their time had its fuUest embodiment. 
Our feeling is that a period is best studied in its 
leaders, whether we think they made it or were the 
product of it. Through human sympathies we 
gather our best understanding of events. Doubt- 
less this habit may lead us astray, in respect of de- 
tails, but it fastens attention upon large outlines 
securely. Biographical studies do not, indeed, 
attract all minds alike, nor always proportionately 
to their real merit. With some it is the fashion 
to belittle their usefulness. It has been said that 
every biography must be unsatisfying to those who 
loved the subject of it, and misleading to others. 
So much of life cannot be recorded; so little of it 
appears in the spoken word, or the outward act, 
or even in the written lines. Those without the 
love do not apprehend the rich significance of a 
life; those who loved must keep their secret. It 
is beyond their power to impart it. In this we may 
recognize much ti^uth, and yet now and then a 
biography belies it, and finds for itself a way into 
the hearts of multitudes, enlightening and quick- 
ening their interest in life and stirring laudable 
aspirations for which the world becomes the better. 

If more elaborate biography has special difficul- 
11 



12 INTRODUCTION 

ties to overcome, the orator or lecturer whose 
theme is biographical encounters these difficulties 
intensified. Accurately to describe a man's historical 
environment in all its complexity, and set him in his 
true relationship to it, showing in vivid outlines 
how his character was shaped and his achievements 
were determined, is not the task of an hour. The 
glowing pages of a biographer, perused in the 
leisure of our library, may bear us into the depths 
of an illustrious life or a great human movement, 
when the very brevity of his opportunity may with- 
hold the orator of an occasion from that success, 
however earnestly he endeavors to effect it. But 
such endeavors, manfully and thoughtfully made, 
are sometimes exceedingly impressive and fruitful 
of impulses that are abiding. If the men who can 
make them are few, they are among the most use- 
ful of a nation's teachers. 

The papers collected in this volume are mani- 
festly efforts in this difficult direction. They were 
more or less occasional, and something is irrecov- 
erably lost when an occasion has passed. The atti- 
tude of a reader is different from that of a listener 
uplifted by a memorable anniversary or upon the 
sympathies of a great assembly. But, on the other 
hand, the known personality of a writer, or some- 
thing in his history, or the particular subject of his 
discourse, may lend interest to the printed page or 
give him an audience beyond the occasion, which 
only the printed page can reach. The power of 
the spoken or of the written word depends very 
much upon whose word it is. 

It is hardly necessary to speak particularly of 
one so conspicuously before the public as the judge 
of a United States court, or of so striking a per- 



INTRODUCTION 13 

sonality as Judge Speer. It is nevertheless true 
that these addresses, even if they must be regarded 
as a by-product of his life, derive significance from 
his special relation to his time. Born just before 
the middle of the nineteenth century, the son of a 
clergyman in the Empire State of the South, in the 
last year of the Civil War a Confederate soldier, 
but sixteen years old at the date of the surrender, 
he acquired such education as was possible for him 
in the disastrous years succeeding that struggle, 
and addressed himself to the problem of his life 
with most creditable courage and resolution. 
Graduating from the University of Georgia in 
1 869, he was soon admitted to the bar. His prog- 
ress was such that in January, 1873, he became 
Solicitor-General of the State, under the first Dem- 
ocratic Governor subsequent to the war. In the 
midsummer of 1876 he resigned his office, resum- 
ing private practice. In 1878 he was elected to 
Congress as an Independent Democrat. He was 
re-elected in 1880 as an Independent with Repub- 
lican affiliations. He was again a candidate in 
1882, but failed to receive a certificate of election. 
On the day after the expiration of his second term, 
in March, 1883, he was appointed by President 
Arthur the United States District Attorney in his 
native State, and within two years afterwards to 
the position which, with growing reputation, he 
has since continuously held. Incidentally to this 
honorable career, he has done valued educational 
work as the head of the law school in Mercer Uni- 
versity, and published volumes of interest to the 
profession and to law students. 

In a country so vast in area as this is, with local 
interests so various and important, there is always 



i 4 INTRODUCTION 

a likelihood of provincialisms. That sectional 
feelings might arise and tend to subordinate to 
themselves the consciousness of nationality was 
from the early days of the Republic a contingency 
to be apprehended — a peril it would task states- 
manship to avert. For a generation previous to 
1 860 this peril was seen to be increasingly real and 
to threaten consequences most serious. Men be- 
gan to speak of an irrepressible conflict. The 
calamities in which the culmination of it actually 
resulted everybody knows. When the war ended 
the situation seemed almost desperate. Nothing 
appeared less likely than the reunifying of a peo- 
ple that had been so frightfully divided. In the 
Southern States the national authority was de- 
tested and anything like national feeling was 
practically extinct. On the other hand, those of us 
who believed this country was made to be the home 
of one nation, not two or many; the home of a 
united and peace-loving people, not a circle of 
armed camps, knew perfectly well that the sole 
hope of that eventuality lay in the restoration of 
the national authority and the re-enkindling of a 
truly national spirit, hopeless as such a result might 
seem. What should bring it about? Whence 
could it be anticipated? Force would never pro- 
duce it. Negotiation would never ensure it. Leg- 
islation would never effect it. If ever it was to be, 
it must be the outcome of the hearts of the South- 
ern people themselves, spontaneous, magnanimous, 
self-propagating, in the lapse of years, perhaps of 
generations. For that it was necessary to wait. 

Now it is the distinction of Judge Speer that he 
was one of the earliest of the men of the South 
clearly to perceive the immense desirableness of 



INTRODUCTION 15 

this political renovation, and set himself intelli- 
gently and heartily to do a man's utmost toward it. 
In this patriotic endeavor he has never wearied. 
To make it successful he has spared no exertion. 
By precept and example, by word and by deed, pri- 
vately and publicly, as a citizen and as a judge, he 
has striven to hasten the happy issue which now 
one need not be oversanguine confidently to expect. 
Time, good sense, common experiences and com- 
mon aspirations, mutual understandings ripening 
into common purposes, combine to develop a con- 
sciousness of unity finding many ways to assert it- 
self. Demonstrations multiply that the once di- 
vided American people have grasped the full sig- 
nificance of the motto which the fathers chose, and 
perceived the splendid potencies contingent upon 
the realization of the ideal to which it points, and 
clearly see the felicity, the dignity, the grandeur 
of the fact that in very truth, for a great future 
at home and a beneficent mission abroad, they are 
one nation — "an indissoluble union of indestruct- 
ible States." 

Doubtless there are many who remember a 
poem of twenty-five years ago, by Dr. Holland, 
entitled "The Mistress of the Manse." They will 
recall how the doubly-bereaved heroine solved the 
problem of her tortured heart. She laid side by 
side the soldier of the Union, who had been her 
beloved husband, and the soldier of the Confed- 
eracy, who had been her beloved brother, with a 
common monument, and this inscription : 

"They did the duty that they saw ; 

Both wrought on God's supreme designs ; 
And, under Love's eternal law, 

Each life with equal beauty shines." 



1 6 INTRODUCTION 

That sentiment, from which once hearts in either 
section somewhat recoiled, now finds a response 
throughout the length and breadth of the land, and 
beyond a question will finally be universal and 
abiding. Those whom it animated first will then 
stand out as the prophets of their generation — the 
heralds of a bright and glorious day for their coun- 
try and for mankind. 

It will be seen that to the patriot whose ad- 
dresses are collected in this volume that day 
dawned long ago. The names of Washington and 
Lincoln, of Grant and Lee, equally arouse his 
enthusiasm as his imagination reproduces their 
characters and their services, each in the proper 
time and place, for the inspiration of his listening 
countrymen. It is interesting to remember in this 
connection that he has been heard by attentive and 
sympathetic audiences in the North and in the 
South, in the East and in the West, and every- 
where has won the tribute of ready and hearty ap- 
plause. Nor is this at all difficult to understand. 
His addresses have a charm that is their own. 
The ardor of a Southern nature, the fertility of a 
full mind, the sympathies of a generous heart are 
continually manifested in them, whether the par- 
ticular subject of discourse faced the problems of 
the colonial period, the long war for Independence 
or the struggle of less than fifty years ago. All 
these glimpses of the past have their interest, and 
thus treated make their own appeal, and it is to 
what is deeper than partisanship and belongs to no 
one time. It is not desirable that noble qualities 
and magnificent energies be forgotten whenever 
or wherever displayed. It is profitable that by elo- 
quent lips, by glowing pages, by enduring monu- 



INTRODUCTION 17 

ments they be kept in remembrance. It will profit 
if in these ways, and in every other practicable 
way, the hearts of the children are prompted to vie 
with their fathers in that large public spirit which 
the future equally with the past will somehow de- 
mand "in times which try men's souls." 

To speak particularly of the literary form of 
these papers in this introduction would be uncalled 
for. They may safely be left to speak for them- 
selves. This they certainly will do, and most 
effectively, whatever may be said of them in ad- 
vance. But it will be permitted to a friend of the 
author to commend them to the public, and express 
the hope that they may find a wide circle of inter- 
ested readers. May they awaken in many minds 
a fresh and an abiding appreciation of the rich 
heritage the American people possesses in the 
memory of heroic leaders, who in a long succes- 
sion have gloriously met the emergencies of its 
history in the centuries that have gone! 

New Haven, Conn., 

August 1, 1909. 




<yfcjA4*c^€ij 



FACING PAGE 19 



Lincoln, Lee, Grant, and Other 
Biographical Addresses 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.* 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

About the year 1816 a catastrophe in commerce 
between the States occurred on an interstate water- 
way of our country. It was at the junction of the 
Ohio River, with one of its Kentucky tributaries 
upon which the pioneers had bestowed the sugges- 
tive name "Rolling Fork." A rude flat-boat, laden 
with a scanty collection of household goods, ten 
barrels of corn whiskey, and steered by a tall back- 
woodsman, whose muscular form, good-humored, 
careless face was typical of the daring videttes 
of those pioneer forces which westward took their 
way, was borne swiftly down the stream. The 
stalwart master was not without experience in such 
ventures. That morning, in front of his cabin 
home, he quit his moorings, and amid the hurrahs 
of his children swept boldly out into the stream. 
A perilous artery of inland navigation was "Roll- 
ing Fork" as he rushed down from the ravines of 
"Blue Bald" and "Shiney" mountains, to mingle 
his lime-colored waters with the amber flood of 



*On the Centenary of his Birth, at the Armory of the 12th 
Regiment New York State National Guard, Feb. 12, 1909. 



20 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Ohio. Whether by the impetuous current, the 
presence of snags and sawyers, or a too frequent 
resort to what the elder Weller would term "a wery 
good power o' suction," through a straw inserted 
in a tempting bunghole, certain it is that the boat- 
man lost his bearings. As the argosy was swept 
into the great river, it was partially capsized. 
Much of the priceless cargo, and doubtless all the 
composure of the bold navigator was swept away. 

The hapless voyager was Thomas Lincoln. One 
of the little children, who had cheered the father 
as he set forth on his unpropitious way, became 
the illustrious American, the centenary of whose 
birth we celebrate to-day. Angry with adverse 
fortune but undismayed, his flat-boat righted, with 
the remnant of his wealth, alone and unaided, 
Thomas Lincoln drifted with Ohio's current, made 
a safe landing on the Indiana shore, and hiring a 
yoke of oxen, conveyed his goods and chattels 
some eighteen miles from the river. Here they 
were cached in an oak opening under the care of a 
friendly settler. Thomas, with unchastened spirit 
shouldered his rifle, and took a bee-line southward 
to bring his wife and children to the new home he 
meant to establish in the primeval forest. 

Such experiences, and others far more tragic, 
were no novelties with the migratory ancestry of 
the child Lincoln. One year after 'Victory twined 
double garlands" around the banners of France 
and America at Yorktown, Abraham Lincoln, the 
grandfather of the Emancipator, and his sons, 
Mordecai, Josiah, and the amphibious Thomas 
aforesaid, left Rockingham County, Virginia. He 
followed the wilderness trail threading the his- 
toric passes of the Alleghenies, and taking out a 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21 

warrant for four hundred acres of land, erected 
his log-cabin home near Fort Beargrass, the pres- 
ent site of Louisville, Kentucky. Here for two 
years we may believe that hope elevated the heart 
of the brave frontiersman. Here he cleared and 
planted the virgin soil, whose luxuriant yield would 
give bread to his loved ones. Here were the illim- 
itable and primeval parks of the Blue Grass, 
shaded by the monarchs of the forest; here, count- 
less flocks of wild pigeons, fluttering amid the 
mighty beeches, and the noble wild turkey, proudly 
displaying the sheen of his bronze plumage, amid 
his shy and comely consorts, strutted and gobbled 
with all the ecstasy of reciprocated love ; the rough 
grouse too, drumming like some recruiting ser- 
geant for a feathered battalion; the beautiful deer 
in great herds gracefully bounding through the vis- 
tas of the woods, or grazing upon the lush grasses ; 
all made rich contributions to the larder of the 
pioneer. But Abraham, the grandfather, was not 
long to enjoy these hopeful and happy conditions. 
One day he was working in the field. Little 
Thomas was playing by his side. Hard by, the 
elder boys were chopping in the woods. A mur- 
derous Indian, hidden in the brush on the edge of 
the field, was watching the father and child. His 
unsuspecting victim, in his work approached the 
ambush. The cruel rifle spoke. The father fell 
dead. Paralyzed with terror, caught by the sav- 
age springing from his lair, the little one was 
swiftly borne toward captivity, perhaps torture 
and death. But the brothers were there. While 
Josiah ran to the fort for help, Mordecai sped to 
the house, caught down his father's rifle, and draw- 
ing a bead on the running Indian killed him in his 



22 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

tracks. Little Tom, wriggling from the loosening 
grasp of his dying captor, sped like a wild creature 
of the woods to the cabin and to safety. And yet 
there are those friendly biographers of the illus- 
trious son who have spoken of the ancestry of 
Lincoln as "poor whites," often "poor white 
trash." Never was careless injustice more pal- 
pable, especially to those who know the swerveless 
courage, the heroic fortitude, the kindly and com- 
panionable nature of Southern men of his class. 
Much has been written of the "shiftless" father of 
Lincoln. By the same standard, "shiftless" also 
was Daniel Boone, and many another adventurer, 
who led the way where men of greater culture and 
less hardihood would have ignobly failed. These 
men were the offspring of the time and the ex- 
igency of a wilderness empire. The original of 
the expression is purely African and local. There 
are poor men everywhere, but they are not called 
"poor whites." Such writers have, therefore, 
appropriated an illusive characterization, originat- 
ing with the pampered and pompous African house 
servants of wealthy planters in the old regime — 
the "Gumbos" of Thackeray, the "Drink-Water 
Toms" of Page — who were accustomed to speak 
thus of white men, who, like the father of Lincoln, 
were obliged from poverty to win their bread by 
the sweat of their brows. To vast multitudes, 
like him, learning had never unfolded her ample 
page, nor had education come to unlock the por- 
tals of the mind. But from that poor, but pure 
blooded stock sprang Andrew Jackson, the hero of 
New Orleans, and Davy Crockett, the hero of the 
Alamo. In the main it gave the rank and file of 
that incomparable infantry, whose far-flung battle- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 

line, from the green hills above the Potomac to 
the sandy banks of the Rio Grande, for four years 
maintained to the uttermost the military renown 
and honor of our country's fighting strain. 

In 1806 Thomas Lincoln, grown to manhood, 
had taken to himself a wife. The bride was 
Nancy Hanks, a wild flower from the Virginia 
mountains. The future President was the second 
child of this union. Upon the authority of a 
biographer who well knew the son, the latter de- 
clared that his mother was "of medium stature, of 
brunette complexion, and with bright eyes, at once 
mirthful and soft." This gentle daughter of the 
wilderness did not long endure the hardships and 
privations of its rugged and wasting life. At the 
rude home in southern Indiana, on the 5th of Oc- 
tober, 18 18, the mother, who had given Lincoln 
to his country and mankind, passed from the toils 
and sorrows of life to the presence of that benign 
Master whose tenderest mission on earth was to 
bring pity, succor, and consolation to the suffering 
Mothers of Men. Hard by the desolate home, 
the husband cut from the woods, and fashioned 
with his own hands a rude coffin for the quiet form 
of the wife of his youth. As she had lived, so she 
was buried in the mighty forest, and when the 
withered leaves of many winters had thickly cov- 
ered her resting place, her son, then a ruler of men, 
with tear-dimmed eyes declared: U A11 that I am 
or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." 

Who can portray the wretchedness of that hum- 
ble home to which Thomas Lincoln, his little 
daughter Sarah, and his still younger son returned 
from the lonely grave. But the poor have no 
leisure for lamentation. Sarah, not yet twelve, 



24 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

was the housekeeper. Little Abe, two years 
younger, was already trained in wielding the axe, 
the maul, and the froe. Thomas was a quick 
dead shot with the rifle, and game was plentiful; 
skilful also in mixing the nourishing ashcake of 
Indian corn meal. The furniture of the cabin, which 
sheltered the boy, whose intrepid diplomacy in 
later years dominated the royal inmate of St. 
James, and the imperial occupant of the Tuileries, 
was squalid, indeed pathetic. The bedstead had 
but one leg. This was cut from a sapling with 
two adjacent forks, and driven into the ground floor 
the desired distance from the walls. Cross-pieces 
extended from the forks to the crevices between 
the logs. Thongs of deer-skin were laced with 
care across the frame thus made, and on this re- 
posed the mattress stuffed with fragrant "shucks" 
or husks stripped from the ears of Indian corn. 
In another corner the children enjoyed the com- 
forts of a similar, but smaller structure, but when 
the blizzard came, and the icy blasts from the 
North hurtled across the lonely prairie, and drove 
the snow in drifts through the many clefts in the 
cabin, the little ones would creep to the parental 
bed to share the warmth, thrown off in generous 
measure by the stalwart father. But the en- 
vironment of Abraham Lincoln's youth was in 
no sense injurious to a man of his native power. Its 
hardships and vicissitudes developed the Spartan 
in his character. Comforts were unknown, but this 
made him in after life "scorn delights and live la- 
borious days." It compassed achievements usually 
impossible to those who have not felt the "uses of 
adversity." Royal fathers, of no mean sagacity, 
have sought to accustom their sons from infancy 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25 

to privations, inevitable with the boy Lincoln. 
Such was the father of Frederick the Great. And 
when in the late years of the Seven Years' War, 
with the armies of Austria, Saxony, Russia, Swe- 
den, France, and the Reich, combined against him, 
when with but a remnant of his veterans, his mili- 
tary genius, at the Camp of Bundelwitz, had 
checkmated and paralyzed all his foes, this Last 
of the Great Kings, making his cheerless bivouac 
amid his shivering outposts, was heard to exclaim, 
"And remember, a lock of straw, will you, that I 
may not have to sleep on the ground as last night." 
It is possible that continuous meditation upon 
his miserable household, and the wretchedness of 
his children, impelled our bereaved widower to ask 
himself, in the language of Scripture, "Is there no 
balm in Gilead ; is there no physician there ?" Cer- 
tain it is that, no matter how great the calamity, 
Thomas Lincoln was not one of those who 

"In the shade of melancholy boughs, 

Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time." 

And so it was that about a year after the death of 
his beloved Nancy, Thomas disappeared. He 
gave to the children no explanation of his flitting, 
or how long he would be gone. They were how- 
ever, unafraid, and not unaccustomed to the excur- 
sions of this pioneer prodigal father. One bright 
December morning the mystery was explained. 
A cheery yell from the edge of the little clearing 
around the cabin brought the children scampering 
out of doors. They were greeted by a spectacle 
to dazzle their shy but enraptured eyes; the beam- 
ing Thomas, sitting in the seat of honor in a four- 
horse wagon, drawn by powerful Kentucky steeds. 



26 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

By his side, a comely and kindly bride. She had 
been a widow, Mrs. Sallie Johnston of Elizabeth- 
town, Kentucky. A sweetheart of the secretive 
Thomas in the days of his youth — having heard 
of the death of her husband, he had sagely divined 
that their mutual sorrows, if added together in the 
curious arithmetic of love, might sum up in the 
happiness of both. The days of downright hard- 
ship for the family were now behind. The new 
mother had brought with her three children of 
her first marriage. The new playmates were by 
our little friends welcomed with open arms. But 
this was not all. The contents of the wagon were 
miraculous. There were tables and chairs, an as- 
tonishing bureau, with drawers that pulled out 
and disclosed a plentiful stock of clothing. There 
was abundant crockery to replace the tin cups and 
plates. There were knives and forks. There 
was ample bedding for all, and no matter how cold 
the weather, the children never again suffered for 
the lack of cover. We cannot doubt that the canny 
Thomas had cautiously depicted the insufficiencies 
of his establishment, for luxurious repose, nor that 
the wonderful wagon also contained a matrimonial 
four-poster, such as may yet be seen in the old Ken- 
tucky home, and one or more fluffy but ponderous 
looking feather-beds — the acme of comfort in the 
hyperborean region to which its kindly mistress 
had now arrived. Wonder has been expressed 
how Thomas Lincoln, an untutored son of the 
wilderness, beguiled this shrewd and forehanded 
Kentucky widow to share his meager fortunes. It 
must be recalled, however, that he had sought her 
in the autumn, but not until December did he bring 
the "captive home * * * whose ransom did 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 

the general coffers fill." We may rest assured 
that during this interval Thomas was an ardent 
wooer, and there is power in propinquity, especially 
of those who have previously enjoyed the bless- 
ings of connubial happiness. 

In the meantime, little Abraham had learned to 
read, and in a way to write. His handwriting was 
always small and delicate. This is doubtless 
ascribable to the paucity of paper in the Indiana 
home. Indeed, much of his early composition was 
written with charcoal on the boards, or "shakes" 
as they were termed then, which he had riven with 
his froe. A wooden fire-shovel was also a tablet 
for his random thoughts and selections. When 
the shovel was filled, he would shave off the sur- 
face with his sharp pocket-knife, and proceed to 
fill it again. Of books it seemed for a long time 
he had but five. These were the Bible, Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's Progress," "Aesop's Fables," "Robin- 
son Crusoe," and at a later period Weems' "Life 
of Washington." It is probably true that no other 
collection could have produced such fructifying and 
enduring impression on the astonishing fertility 
and strength of that mind with which the lad had 
been endowed. "Some books," wrote Bacon in his 
essay "On Studies," "are to be tasted, others to be 
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digest- 
ed." It will scarcely be questioned that the library 
of the future President belonged to the class last 
mentioned by the most brilliant philosopher of the 
Elizabethan Age. With what Lowell terms "the 
grand simplicities of the Bible," the subsequent 
writings and speeches of Lincoln betray the most 
intimate acquaintance, and of the English Bible 
Lord Macaulay declared, "if everything else in 



28 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

our language should perish, it would alone suffice 
to show the whole extent of its beauty and power." 
It will be as interesting, as profitable to those who 
would acquire a clear, cogent, simple and popular 
style, to reflect that the styles of the immortal 
author of the "Pilgrim's Progress," and of the 
scarcely less renowned creator of "Robinson 
Crusoe," were both formed by a study of the 
"Book of Books." Of the inspired allegory, it 
may be said that, like Lincoln in his studies in the 
wilderness, the author had, in the words of the 
same great master of English literature I have 
just quoted, "no conception that he was producing 
a masterpiece: he could not guess what place his 
allegory would occupy in English literature, for 
of English literature he knew nothing." Bunyan 
was the son of a strolling tinker, at a time when 
that guild formed an hereditary class who were 
generally vagrants and pilferers. The father of 
Lincoln, with all of his weaknesses, when com- 
pared to the father of Bunyan, would probably be 
as "Hyperion" to a "Satyr." It was in the grime 
of his prison cell that the author created the 
"House Beautiful," the "Delectable Mountains," 
and the "Enchanted Ground." It is declared that 
he had no assistance, and nobody but himself saw 
a line until the whole was complete. Like Lin- 
coln's also, some of his early writings were coarse, 
but they showed a keen mother wit, a great com- 
mand of the homely Saxon tongue, and great fa- 
miliarity with the English Bible. Perhaps in no 
book other than the "Pilgrim's Progress" are to be 
found so many words of one syllable. Of Defoe, 
it is related that during that part of the reign of 
Charles the Second, when devout non-Catholics an- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29 

ticipated that printed Bibles would soon become 
rare, many earnest and apprehensive people began 
to copy it in writing, and the author of "Robinson 
Crusoe" and "The Story of the Plague in London," 
as he himself said, "worked like ahorse until hehad 
written out the whole of the Pentateuch." To such 
studies we may ascribe the simplicity and strength 
of his style. In his imaginative power we may 
trace the influence of the Royal Poet of Israel, 
whose military genius extended his dominion from 
the Orontes to the Euphrates; and the fervid real- 
ism of his narrative, to the simple stories of those 
untutored artisans and fishermen, who recorded 
the journeys, the sayings, and the trials of Him 
"who spake as never man spake." The Fables of 
Aesop, and the famous work of Weems, were of a 
different order. But of the first it may be said that 
Socrates himself attempted their versification, and 
they were favorites with the cultured inhabitants 
in the City of the Violet Crown, at that period of 
its intellectual achievement of which Macaulay de- 
clared, "Wherever literature consoles sorrow or 
assuages pain; wherever it brings gladness to eyes, 
which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache 
for the dark house and the long sleep — there is ex- 
hibited in its noblest form the immortal things of 
Athens." 

The least influential of those literary influences, 
which added to Lincoln's gigantic mentality a style 
of writing and speaking, unsurpassed in its power 
to reach and control the patriotic conscience of the 
plain people, was the "Life of Washington" by 
Parson Weems. But it is probably true that noth- 
ing he read contributed more to his devotion to 
the Union than the idolatry of Washington it 



3 o ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

kindled, and Walt Whitman declared that "the 
only thing like passion or infatuation in the man 
was the passion for the Union of these States." 
It cannot be said that all the veracities were com- 
bined in Parson Weems. He was an itinerant ad- 
venturer, bookmaker, and bookseller. To suggest 
his intimacy with Washington, Weems described 
himself as "Rector of Mt. Vernon Parish." 
Now Mt. Vernon had no church or chapel, was in 
Truro Parish, and Weems was never rector any- 
where. It was Weems who invented the fabulous 
story of the Cherry Tree and the Hatchet, which 
will in a few days engage the humorous writers of 
the Press in purveying for our countrymen's love 
of funmaking and ridicule. Nevertheless, the 
book was written in an earnest and most affection- 
ate style. It was a great favorite with the pioneers, 
who worshiped the memory of Washington. In- 
deed, they regarded him as the first pioneer, but 
with less accuracy perhaps, as a type of themselves. 
Lincoln shared this worship to the full. Indelible, 
then, must have been the influence upon his mind 
of the ardent advocacy of our perpetual union in 
the "Farewell Address" : "It is a main pillar 
in the edifice of your real independence, the 
support of your tranquillity at home, your peace 
abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of 
that very Liberty, which you so highly prize." 
Indeed, there were those who condemned Mr. 
Lincoln because his love for the Union far out- 
stripped his hatred of slavery, and yet hatred 
of slavery was one of the ruling passions of his life. 
This is made plain by his famous letter to Horace 
Greeley: "If there be those who would not save 
the Union, unless they could at the same time save 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 31 

slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be 
those who would not save the Union, unless they 
could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not 
agree with them. My paramount object is to save 
the Union, and not either to save or destroy slav- 
ery. If I could save the Union without freeing 
any slave, I would do it. And if I could save it by 
freeing all the slaves, I would do it. And if I 
could save it by freeing some, and leaving others 
alone, I would also do that. What I do about 
slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe 
it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I 
forbear because I do not believe it would help to 
save the Union. I shall do less whenever I believe 
what I am doing hurts the cause, and shall do more 
whenever I believe doing more will help the cause 
* * * I have here stated my purpose, ac- 
cording to my view of official duty, and I intend no 
modification of my oft-expressed personal wish, 
that all men everywhere could be free." In truth 
at last the Union became to Lincoln — and I speak 
with reverence — sacred as the Cross to that in- 
numerable throng of other martyrs, who, "posted 
at the shrine of Truth, have fallen in her defense." 
It seems that when about seventeen a steady 
fire of ambition was kindled in the breast of the 
young Lincoln by a spark thrown off in a court- 
room from the forensic effort of a famous Breck- 
inridge of that day. It was a murder trial. This 
is said to have been his first lesson in oratory, and 
all unconsciously, he must have determined to be- 
come not only a great orator, but also a great de- 
bater. Of all the renowned debaters of the British 
Parliament, Charles James Fox seems more 
closely to resemble the simplicity, terseness, point- 



32 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

edness, and all-pervading cast of intellect, in the 
style of Mr. Lincoln. This great Englishman 
once remarked to a friend that he had gained his 
skill "at the expense of the House of Commons." 
The audience of the future opponent of Douglas 
was less distinguished, but in his adolescent exer- 
cises was as hardworked. His practice of speech- 
making, when not himself at labor, was almost 
without an interval. The questions did not mat- 
ter: the propriety of a bounty on the scalps of 
bears or wolves, the advantage or disadvantage 
of roads and trails, the school-tax — anything. He 
organized mock trials, opened the case for the pros- 
ecution, replied for the defense, charged the jury 
for the court, and sometimes favored the sup- 
posititious tribunal with appropriate remarks from 
the foreman of the jury. So constant were these 
efforts, so ardent, and so fascinating to his hear- 
ers, that his father often felt obliged to disperse 
the legislative body, or adjourn the court. "When 
Abe begins to speak," complained Thomas, "all 
the hands flock to hear him." 

From this recital it is plain that Mr. Lincoln 
had for his early teachers but himself, the rude 
forces of life on the frontier, and the "green-robed 
senators of the mighty woods." But is it also plain 
that any other teaching would have developed the 
character and powers necessary to the stupendous 
task which, under the Providence of God, as we 
may well believe, came to his hand? There are 
doubtless few Americans, capable of appreciating 
the blessings of classical culture, who have not in 
some degree coveted the opportunities enjoyed by 
such men as the elder Pitt and Charles James Fox 
at Oxford, or by the younger Pitt, Macaulay and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 33 

Gladstone at Cambridge. It is true that the power 
to render the orations of Demosthenes into ner- 
vous English was the easy task of Chatham; that 
to soothe his outraged nerves, after prodigies 
of dissipation, Fox would turn to the odes and ly- 
rics of Horace, to the "Aeneid" or "Alcestis," as 
if they were in his mother-tongue. It is true that of 
the younger Pitt, his teacher declared that there 
was scarcely a Greek or Latin writer, the whole of 
whose works his pupil had not read to him, in most 
thorough and discriminating manner before he 
was twenty, and that he was as thorough in the 
exact sciences as in the classics. While these illus- 
trious men became each supreme in his distinctive 
characteristics as orator, and while Lincoln had 
no more than a year of school life altogether, I 
doubt if all their learning could have added an 
atom to his power in those debates with Douglas, 
which made him President during that period in 
which the Union was saved. I doubt if either 
could have equalled the simple grandeur of his 
speech at Gettysburg, the pathos of his First In- 
augural, the gentle tenderness and awful majesty 
of his last. He was a child of the plain people, he 
spoke as the nursling of his country and his time. 
But this was not all. The early habits of self- 
reliance, essential to existence itself, in his poverty- 
stricken and neglected childhood, imparted the 
independence, resourcefulness, and immovable but 
modest self-confidence, which, despite all efforts 
from many quarters to change his plans or thwart 
his policies, made his prescient mind in the crisis of 
our country's fate the actual organizer of victory 
for the Union. His first Cabinet was, not unlike 
the British ministry, "of all talents." It compre- 
hended certain great Americans, who deemed 



34 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

themselves, and at the time were deemed by the 
American people, as infinitely superior to the un- 
couth country lawyer, who in such a surprising way 
had won the Presidency. Foremost of these were 
William H. Seward and Salmon P. Chase. It 
was doubtless mortifying to these courtly and 
scholarly statesmen, to daily witness the President 
receiving multitudes, in the hale-fellow well-met 
style, natural to a man of his simple good nature. 
Their own dignity and reserve would have been 
more at home in the Cabinet of His Excellency, 
George Washington, than in that of "honest Abe 
Lincoln," the Rail Splitter from Sangamon. It is 
said that he was far more accessible to the people 
than the chiefs of many subordinate bureaus. He 
was utterly unconventional. A formal visit from 
a diplomatic representative of the most powerful 
monarch of "that grand old world beyond the 
deep," was not more appalling to him than a visit 
from a brother attorney in his law office at Spring- 
field. When Lord Lyons, that stately bachelor 
minister of Her Britannic Majesty at Washington, 
presented to the new President an autograph let- 
ter from Queen Victoria, announcing the marriage 
of the Prince of Wales, as is the custom with roy- 
alty, and when His Lordship loftily added that 
whatever response the President would make he 
would immediately transmit to his Royal Mistress, 
Mr. Lincoln instantly responded by shaking the 
marriage announcement in the face of the startled 
Britisher, and exclaiming, "Lyons, go thou and do 
likewise!" 

It is not surprising then that such eminent states- 
men as Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase, with such an 
"irreverent" President, should conclude that if the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 35 

country was saved, they must save it. The first 
to reach this conclusion was Mr. Seward. At the 
end of the first month he submitted to Mr. Lincoln 
a memorandum. This informed the President 
that the Government was without a policy; that 
the slavery question should be eliminated from the 
struggle; gave his views as to the maintenance of 
the forts in the South; declared that Spain and 
France were then preparing, the first for the an- 
nexation of San Domingo, and both for the inva- 
sion of Mexico, and should be required to give in- 
stant and satisfactory explanations, and on failure, 
that war should be declared; that explanations 
equally explicit should be demanded from Russia 
and Great Britain; that the Continental spirit of 
independence against all Europe should be aroused 
all over the American Continent; and that the 
President should devote himself entirely to these 
policies, or devolve the direction on some mem- 
ber of his Cabinet, about whose measures all de- 
bate should end. It might have been implied from 
this memorandum that Mr. Seward himself was 
the proper and exclusive plenipotentiary for the 
dictatorial policies and duties enumerated. The 
great Secretary of State was soon to learn that he 
had taken an erroneous measure of his man. Mr. 
Seward had delivered himself into the hands of 
Mr. Lincoln. A smaller man would have taken 
instant affront at the unconstitutional superiority 
which the Cabinet officer had assumed. But Mr. 
Lincoln ignored the offense, but at once dispatched 
a reply which had a profound effect upon that fa- 
mous member of his official family. He informed 
Mr. Seward that the Administration had a foreign 
policy, which, with the President's approval, had 



36 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

been outlined in the dispatches of the Secretary of 
State; that if any change in that policy was to 
be made, the President would make it on his own 
responsibility. As to the domestic policy, — that, 
he wrote, had been laid down in the Inaugural Ad- 
dress, and that too had been made with Seward's 
approval. Its substance is as follows: ''Physi- 
cally speaking, we cannot separate; we cannot re- 
move our respective sections from each other, nor 
build an impassable wall between them. A hus- 
band and wife may be divorced, and go out of the 
presence and beyond the reach of each other; but 
the different parts of our country cannot do this. 
They cannot but remain face to face, and inter- 
course, either amicable or hostile, must continue 
between them. * * * I am loathe to 
close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must 
not be enemies. Though passion may have strain- 
ed, it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
mystic cords of memory, stretching from every 
battlefield and patriot grave, to every loving heart 
and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet 
swell the chorus of the Union, when again touch- 
ed, as surely they will be, by the better angels of 
our nature." From the ultimate purpose of that 
policy, to his last expiring sigh, the martyred Pres- 
ident did never for a moment depart. 

Mr. Lincoln was Southern born. There was 
subdued emotion of deep pathos in his statement 
to an artist, who painted his portrait and made in- 
quiry as to his birthplace, that he might paint that 
also. For the desired data, the painter handed 
Mr. Lincoln a small memorandum book. He 
stated that as Lincoln took the book, a melan- 
choly shadow settled on his features, and his eyes 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 37 

had an inexpressible sadness in them, as if they 
were searching for something they had seen long, 
long years ago. He then wrote: "I was born 
February 12, 1809, in then Harden County, Ken- 
tucky, within the now recently formed county of 
Larue, a mile or a mile and a half from where 
Hodgensville now is. My parents being dead, and 
my own memory not serving, I have no means of 
indentifying the precise locality. It was on Nolan 
Creek." The great man was doubtless recalling 
the memories of what seemed his hopeless child- 
hood, its penury, its obscurity; the little brother, 
by whose unmarked grave he and his gentle mother 
had knelt and prayed, and through blinding tears 
looked upon the sacred spot they would never more 
behold. 

The associations of the birthplace have ever a 
subtle and enduring influence on the feeling mind. 
In the plastic years of his tender childhood his 
father and mother in his hearing had often dwelt 
upon the "Old Kentucky home so far away." They 
had no doubt forgotten its hardships, its miseries, 
the fierce tragedies of the "Dark and Bloody 
Ground;" and 

"Memory stood sidewise, half covered with flowers, 
And disclosed every rose, but secreted the thorn." 

His stepmother, to whom he was devotedly at- 
tached, was a Kentucky woman. She often said, 
"He never gave me a cross word or look, and 
never refused in fact or appearance to do any- 
thing I asked of him." And more influential still 
is the fact that his wife was "bred in old Ken- 
tucky." Mr. Lincoln knew the Southern people, 
and loved them. He knew that idol of his young 



3 8 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

manhood, who had learned the law, while secre- 
tary of that Chancellor Wythe of Virginia who had 
been the preceptor of Thomas Jefferson and John 
Marshall, and who also had followed the "Wil- 
derness Trail," and settled in the heart of the "Blue 
Grass," to win by his musical eloquence and his 
magnetic attractiveness, that adoration from his 
countrymen which yet attends the name of Henry 
Clay. Of another Southern man, whose memory 
will long be cherished by thousands, he wrote this 
letter to his law-partner : "Dear William, — I take 
up my pen to tell you that Mr. Stephens of Georgia, 
a little, slim pale-faced, consumptive man, with a 
voice like Logan's has just concluded the very best 
speech of an hour's length I ever heard." Al- 
though only thirty-six, he added in his humorous 
way, "My old withered dry eyes are full of tears 
yet." 

Let me say, that whatever their differences on 
questions of National policy, it is true that South- 
ern men worthy of the name ever cherish a com- 
mon and tender sympathy for the homogeneous 
population which there hands down from father 
to son the primitive virtues of the brave and kindly 
American stock. It is an impassioned sentiment. 
It is expressed in the only intelligible words of that 
martial Southern lyric, which above the crash of 
rifle fire and the swift thudding of guns, often 
thrilled the thin gray lines to deeds of desperate 
valor — now, I trust, the undivided heritage of an 
undivided people — 

"In Dixie's land I'll take my stand, 
And live and die for Dixie." 

In vain may the search be made through the re- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 39 

ports of all the speeches, and through all the writ- 
ings and correspondence of Mr. Lincoln, to find 
one syllable of depreciation or unkindness toward 
Southern men. His soundest policy, as President 
and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
of the United States, coincided with the natural in- 
fluences of birth, of friendship, and of kinship. 
Mr. Lincoln was from one of the Border States, 
and none more than he knew the fighting qualities 
of their intrepid manhood. While they were Slave 
States and Southern States, the preponderance of 
their military strength had rallied to the Stars and 
Stripes. It is well to remember that in white 
troops alone the States recognized as Southern 
contributed more than twice the strength of those 
combined Imperial Armies who, nearly sixty years 
before, had met in deadliest conflict on the snow- 
clad plateau illumined by the "Sun of Austerlitz," 
and more than twice the sum of the opposing 
American armies, who reeled and staggered on the 
bloody crest of battle amid the shell-riven rocks of 
Gettysburg. Of these, the eleven seceding States 
gave 86,205, and Delaware, Maryland, the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, Kentucky and Missouri, 260,- 
327. About one-third of the officers of Southern 
blood, who had been trained at the Military Acad- 
emy at West Point, had remained to share the for- 
tunes and uphold the honor of the glory-crowned 
standard of our country. Amid the thunders 
of Dupont's fleet at Port Royal, was Captain 
Percival Drayton of South Carolina. His brother, 
a general of the Confederate Army, was in com- 
mand of the defensive works ashore. At Galves- 
ton, in 1863, a Confederate Major Lea led the 
assault, and found his son, Lieutenant Lea, dead 



4 o ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

on the blood-stained decks of the Harriet Lane. 
Two Crittendens, Kentuckians both, were major- 
generals in the opposing armies. Colonel Breck- 
inridge at the battle of Atlanta was captured by 
his own brother, an officer in that famous Confed- 
erate cavalry which followed the guidons of "Lit- 
tle Joe Wheeler." Mr. Lincoln knew these peo- 
ple. Who that had read the story of little Dela- 
ware in Revolutionary times had failed to learn 
"how dead-game are the Blue Hen's chickens"? 
The President knew the story of Smallwood's 
Maryland battalion of maccaronies and dandies 
who, under the eye of Washington on Long Island, 
covered the retreat of his shattered forces, and 
stood for more than four hours in close array, 
their colors flying, under the cannonade of the 
British, who did not dare to advance and attack 
them, though six times their number. There too 
was the fighting strain, never excelled for heroism 
and constancy, from the land of Kenton, of Har- 
rod, of Shelby, and of Boone, the land where the 
Emancipator himself was born. There too were 
the simple and fearless inhabitants of those rugged 
mountain ranges, of western North Carolina and 
eastern Tennessee, extending like a huge bastion 
to the very heart of the Confederacy, a people to 
whom the memory of Washington was ever dear, 
who whether they swiftly rode to exterminate Fer- 
guson and his Tories at Kings Mountain, to pick 
off the regulars of Packenham at New Orleans, or 
to rally to Sam Houston at San Jacinto, there to 
wreak a bloody revenge for Goliad and the Alamo, 
were Americans to whom no other flag was com- 
parable to the Stars and Stripes. To gather and 
retain the military power of this dauntless popu- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 41 

lation, to hold it steadily to the Flag, was the task 
to which Mr. Lincoln devoted the wealth of his 
commonsense and sagacity, his intuitive and un- 
rivaled knowledge of the American character. 
With this end in view his "Border State" policy, 
as it was termed, was adopted. The proclamation 
of emancipation was long preceded by the offer 
of righteous compensation to the owners of slaves 
who would recognize the authority of the Union. 
The proclamation was issued. There was still no 
variableness or shadow of turning in his swerve- 
less purpose, to secure if he could, compensation to 
the Southern people for their emancipated slaves. 
Prompted by him Congress begins the effort to 
make this purpose effective. The House votes to 
issue ten millions of gold bonds bearing six per 
cent, interest. These are to be distributed in Mis- 
souri alone, as part compensation for the slave- 
holders of that State. The Senate adds five mil- 
lions to the House bill, but when the amended bill 
is returned to the House the measure is defeated 
by the dilatory tactics of the Missouri members. 
Profound and distressing is the disappointment of 
the President. He had hoped that Missouri would 
lead the way, and that the other Southern States 
would follow, with the result of perpetual union 
and enduring peace. He declares that bonds were 
betterthanbondsmen,and that two-leggedproperty 
was a very bad kind to hold. But this was not all. 
When forty miles of the Confederate trenches at 
Petersburg are held by only thirty-three thousand 
of the formidable but starving veterans of Lee, 
Mr. Lincoln makes a visit to General Grant. On 
his return he convenes his Cabinet. He reads to 
his official advisers a message to Congress. In 



42 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

this paper he recommends an appropriation of 
$300,000,000 to be apportioned as compensation 
among Southern planters for the enfranchisement 
of their slaves. To the united opposition of the 
Cabinet he expresses his great surprise. How 
long will the war last? he asks. No one answers. 
"One hundred days," he predicts. "We are expend- 
ing now in carrying on the war $3,000,000 a day, 
which will amount to all this money." It would, 
he thought, restore good feeling. He adds that 
"it will save much blood, and many, many lives." 

At last the brave and irresistible army of Gen- 
eral Grant breaks the lines at Petersburg and 
sweeps them from end to end. The retreating rem- 
nant of Lee, fighting to the last, is annihilated. 
Though overwhelmed, and crushed, amid the kind 
and gentle attention of the victorious army, furled 
in military glory is their red-cross flag which had 
streamed amid shouts of victorv on many a stricken 
field, 

"For there's not a man to wave it 
And there's not a sword to save it, — 
And the hearts that fondly clasped it 
Cold and dead are lying low." 

Then finally spoke the noble, magnanimous soul 
of the Nation's Chief. It was the 1 ith of April, 
1865. He had but three days to live. It was his 
last address to his countrymen. He said: "We 
all agree that the seceded States so-called are out 
of their proper practical relation with the Union, 
and that the sole object of the Government, civil 
and military, in regard to those States, is to again 
give them proper practical relations. Finding them- 
selves safely at home it would be utterly immaterial 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 43 

whether they had been abroad. Let us all join in 
doing the acts necessary to restore the proper prac- 
tical relations between these States and the Union. 
It is also unsatisfactory to some," he continued, 
"that the elective franchise is not given to the col- 
ored man. I would myself prefer that it were now 
conferred on the very intelligent and those who 
serve our cause as soldiers." 

Then with "the deep damnation of his taking 
off" came the Iliad of our woes — the horrors of 
Reconstruction. This was based upon the theory 
which Mr. Lincoln had declined to discuss, namely, 
that the seceded States had lost their status in the 
Union. At last upon the night of our despair 
there broke the radiant morning of our hope. It 
came through the decisions of that august tribunal 
whose jurisdiction is fixed in the adamantine of 
the Constitution. One was pronounced by a jurist 
who had been a member of Lincoln's Cabinet, 
who had resigned in anger, but whom Lincoln 
had elevated to the highest judicial position on 
earth, Chief Justice of our Country. It seemed 
as if the genius of America had breathed upon 
the ashes of the martyr slain, and that the soul 
of Lincoln had met the Justices in their consulta- 
tion room to deliberate, to counsel, to decide that 
"the Constitution in all its provisions looks to an 
indestructible Union composed of indestructible 
States." The Court saved us. Thus fell the 
policy of Reconstruction. Thus your brethren 
though long self-exiled and now disinherited, were 
readmitted to the stately home the Fathers had 
builded. Thus came the final, eternal triumph of 
the loving heart, the prophetic statecraft, the pa- 
triotic soul of Lincoln. And with what result? 



44 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

We have reconsecrated our altars. We have 
kindled the torch of education. We are laying the 
first fruits of our almost untouched resources of 
field, forest and mine in the lap of our reunited 
country. We have recalled our love for the flag, 
and the old American spirit is again flaming in our 
hearts. It lives in the sons of their blood, aye, in 
the surviving veterans of Lee and Johnston them- 
selves. At Guasimas it was there. When the 
Merrimac was steered into the jaws of death at 
Santiago it was there. With Dewey on the bridge 
of the Olympia, it was there. On the deck of the 
JVinslow, when the soul of Worth Bagley, slain in 
his country's cause, winged its way to heaven, it 
was there. In the chaparral of Cuba, in the 
jungles of Luzon, there too were Southern sol- 
diers, wearing the blue as their sires long ago 
wore the gray, inspired by the same spirit and love 
of country which glorified American manhood on 
the slopes of Manassas, in the rush of Jackson's 
corps at Chancellorsville, in the Bloody Angle, at 
the explosion of the Crater, at Chickamauga, and 
on a thousand fields to live in song and story to 
the latest times. And, my countrymen, it is with 
the flag to stay. Whenever the safety or the honor 
of our country is threatened or endangered, the 
soul of Lincoln will thrill, and the swords of Grant 
and Lee will point the charging columns of her 
sons, no longer "dissevered, discordant, belliger- 
ent," but forever fondly embracing and upholding, 

"The Union of lakes, the Union of lands, 
The Union of States none can sever ; 
The Union of hearts, the Union of hands, 
And the flag of our Union forever." 





FACING PAGE 45 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE.* 

In the Capitol at Washington a hall has been 
devoted to the images of our illustrious dead. The 
chamber is worthy of its consecration. It is the 
old Hall of Representatives. There in storied 
marble or enduring bronze, stand the mighty, 
whose patriotic imagination conceived, or whose 
military prowess made possible, the great Repub- 
lic, whose prescient statesmanship framed or 
whose courage and eloquence defended its organic 
law, whose inventive genius enchained the mys- 
terious forces of nature to its service, or whose 
scientific skill ameliorates the sufferings of its peo- 
ple. Majestic monitors to the day, when the night 
has fallen, in the chamber where once rang the 
musical voice of Clay, the lucid periods of Cal- 
houn, and the melodious thunders of Webster, in 
ghostly shadows the silent gathering stands, as if 
to guard the liberty and happiness of the people 
whom they loved. Each State there may place 
the sculptor's conception of her two most illus- 
trious sons. Virginia from her golden roll has 
named George Washington, and the only other in 
the recorded pages of time to be spoken in the 
hazardous connection — Robert Edward Lee. 

At Stratford, an ancient home of the Lees, on 
the 19th of January, 1807, the hero chieftain was 
born. Stratford had been erected for a famous 



♦Delivered at Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, June, 1905; 
and at Yale University, New Haven, May, 1906. 

45 



46 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

ancestor, by joint contributions from the East India 
Company and a Queen of England. The room in 
which the child was born had witnessed the birth 
of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
both Lees. No American had a prouder lineage, 
and no other depended on lineage less. His father 
was General Henry Lee, the famous "Light Horse 
Harry," as he was termed by his loving and admir- 
ing comrades of the Continental Army. This dis- 
tinguished officer was a great favorite with the 
patriot commander. His mother had been the 
charming Lucy Grimes, that "Lowland beauty" 
on whom the ever-susceptible Washington, in his 
youth lavished a share of that devotion for the 
fair sex, which ever marks the truly great. But 
Henry Lee did not secure his promotion in the 
Continental Army through the romantic affection 
of Washington. He was an accomplished and 
skilful officer. His command was declared to be 
"the finest that made its appearance in the arena 
of the Revolutionary War." It was composed of 
equal proportions of cavalry and infantry, all 
picked officers and men. It is interesting to know 
that in this command of the father of General Lee 
there rode Peter Johnston, the father of General 
Joseph E. Johnston, ever the bosom friend of Lee, 
and the commander of another Confederate army, 
which, rivalling in all soldierly qualities the veter- 
ans of the Army of Northern Virginia, but for his 
untimely removal, thousands believe, would have 
made the red hills of Georgia as famous for de- 
fensive victory as the plain of Marathon, or the 
slope of Waterloo. 

The Revolutionary War ended, General Henry 
Lee began a civil career not less noticeable and 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 47 

valuable than his military services. With John 
Marshall, James Madison, Edmund Randolph, 
and George Wythe he advocated the Federal 
Constitution in the Virginia Convention of 1788. 
He was Governor of Virginia. He commanded 
fifteen thousand militia, sent by President Wash- 
ington to quell the Whiskey Insurrection in west- 
ern Pennsylvania. Afterward, as a Member of 
Congress, on the death of Washington he was 
appointed to deliver an address in commemoration 
of the services of that illustrious man. 

On the 25th of March, 18 18, returning from 
the tropics, where he had gone in search of health, 
the father of Robert E. Lee died at beautiful 
Dungeness on Cumberland Island in our own State, 
and the stone which yet marks his resting-place, 
for nearly a century has been caressed by mosses 
pendant from Georgian oaks, and wooed by Geor- 
gian winds, which o'er the ashes of this hero of the 
Revolution there dispel the fragrance of the mag- 
nolia and the bay. 

^ It is not generally known, I believe, that Robert 
E. Lee was the blood relative of John Marshall, 
the great Chief Justice, and of Thomas Jefferson, 
the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
and twice President of the United States. Mar- 
shall's mother, Mary Keith; Jefferson's mother, 
Jane Randolph, and Lee's grandmother, Mary 
Bland, were all three granddaughters of Colonel 
William Randolph. The home of this colonial 
ancestor of the great Confederate chieftain and 
his illustrious kinsmen, was on an island in the 
James, from whose shores one might have heard 
the thunder of McClellan's artillery at Malvern 
Hill, and the ripping fire of Lee's riflemen when 



48 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

at Petersburg they were steadily holding Grant at 
bay. 

The mother of Robert E. Lee was the second 
wife of Henry Lee. Her name was Anne Hill Carter. 
This gentle and loving woman was the daughter 
of Charles Carter, of "Shirley," a noble mansion 
on the James. To the care of young Robert his 
mother was committed when the declining health 
of his father compelled him to seek relief in the 
West Indies, and she declared that her affection- 
ate guardian, was both a daughter and a son to 
her. The purity, gentleness and spiritual Chris- 
tianity of General Lee was no doubt largely ascrib- 
able to the influence of the mother, and the con- 
stant association of mother and son, so beautiful 
to the people of Alexandria of that day, for to that 
historic old town, the boy had been taken that he 
might attend school. 

In the year 1825 he sought admission to the 
United States Military Academy at West Point. 
His application was successful. Presented to Gen- 
eral Andrew Jackson, the charming modesty of the 
manly and athletic youth appealed at once to the 
soldierly heart and experienced eye of "Old Hick- 
ory," who secured the appointment for him. In 
four years of rigorous discipline and arduous study 
in that famous institution, he never received a de- 
merit, was cadet officer, a prime distinction, ad- 
jutant of his class, and among forty-six classmates 
graduated second. By army regulations the cadets 
who graduate with honors are assigned to the 
Engineers, and so in 1829 Lee was appointed to 
this corps de elite of the Regular Army. 

Like Napoleon, he was a great mathematician, 
and also, like him, was averse to drink. While the 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 49 

Army of Northern Virginia was in winter quarters 
at Petersburg a number of officers were one night 
busily engaged in discussing an abstruse mathemat- 
ical problem, with occasional resort to the contents 
of a stone jug, environed by two tin cups. While 
thus absorbed, General Lee quietly came in to 
make some inquiry. At their request he gave a so- 
lution of the problem, and departed, the military 
rivals of Newton and La Place expressing to 
each other the hope that the General had not ob- 
served the jug and cups. The next day one of 
them in the presence of the others unhappily im- 
parted to General Lee a very strange dream he 
had experienced the night before. The General 
quietly replied: "That is not at all remarkable. 
When young gentlemen discuss at midnight math- 
ematical problems, the unknown quantities of 
which are a stone jug and two tin cups, they may 
expect to have strange dreams." 

Lieutenant Lee was soon absorbed with the 
most important duties of his corps. He was as- 
sistant engineer upon the defenses of Hampton 
Roads, and for a time assistant to the Chief En- 
gineer, at the War Department in Washington. 
He developed such skill that in 1835 he was made 
assistant astronomer of the commission appointed 
to define the boundary between Ohio and Michigan, 
and was soon entrusted with the duty, successfully 
performed, of preventing the Mississippi from 
leaving its channel, and thus injuring the city of 
St. Louis. 

In the mean time, on the 30th of June, 183 1, 
he was united in marriage to Mary Custis, the 
daughter of George Washington Park Custis of 
Arlington. The father of this bride was the grand- 



5 o ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

son of Mrs. Martha Washington, and the adopted 
son of Washington himself. It is said by one of 
his most interesting biographers that Lee was in 
love from his boyhood. How many sweethearts 
he had is not disclosed. They were doubtless 
numerous at this period, for in the esteem of the 
fair sex the profession of arms is equalled only 
by the clergy of those pious denominations wherein 
celibacy is the exception and not the rule. It is 
said that the young mistress of Arlington admired 
him whenever he came to Alexandria on a fur- 
lough from the Military Academy. A handsome 
youth, in his cadet uniform he was even more at- 
tractive, "straight, erect, symmetrical in form, 
with finely shaped head on a pair of broad should- 
ers." The wedding at historic Arlington was wit- 
nessed by a happy assemblage of fair women and 
brave men from two States, and from the Capital 
of all the States. A contemporary chronicler de- 
clares that the stately mansion never held a hap- 
pier assemblage. As to the bride, writes that 
preux chevalier, Fitzhugh Lee, it is difficult to say 
whether she was more lovely on that memorable 
June evening, or when, after many years had pass- 
ed, she was seated in her arm-chair in Richmond, 
busily engaged in knitting socks for the sockless 
Southern soldiers. 

The most ardent passion in the heart of this 
illustrious American was love for his wife and 
children. But he was not more devoted than discreet. 
One of his biographers recounts that when his eld- 
est son, now General Custis Lee, was a very little 
child, his father took him to walk in the snow one 
winter's day. For a time he held the little fellow's 
hand, but soon the boy dropped behind. Looking 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 51 

over his shoulder, he saw Custis imitating his 
every movement, with head and shoulders erect, 
putting his little feet exactly in his father's foot- 
prints. "When I saw this," said the General, "I 
said to myself, it behooves me to walk very 
straight, when this fellow is already following in 
my tracks." 

His care for his children was not confined to 
their childhood. Late in life he writes to his son, 
Robert E. Lee, Jr., "I am clear for your mar- 
riage, if you select a good wife, otherwise you had 
better remain as you are for a time. An im- 
provident or uncongenial woman is worse than 
the minks." We must recall that these bad minks 
are the chief pests of the Virginia farmer. 

When General Winfield Scott was in 1846 en- 
trusted with the command of our small but efficient 
army, intended for the reduction of the city of 
Mexico, Robert E. Lee, now captain of Engineers, 
was selected by that great soldier as a member of 
his personal staff. So profound was the impres- 
sion he made on his veteran commander, that years 
afterwards, General Scott exclaimed to General 
Preston of Kentucky, "I tell you that if I were on 
my deathbed to-morrow, and the President of the 
United States should tell me that a great battle 
was to be fought for the liberty or slavery of the 
country, and ask my judgment as to the ability of 
a commander, I would say with my dying breath, 
'Let him be Robert E. Lee.' " 

The Mexican War over, with several brevets 
for distinguished services he came home and took 
part in constructing defensive works for Balti- 
more harbor, served for three years as Superin- 
tendent of the United States Military Academy, 



52 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

and two new regiments of cavalry having in 1855 
been authorized by act of Congress, Captain and 
Brevet-Colonel R. E. Lee of the Engineers was 
promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the Second 
and afterwards to the colonelcy of the First Regi- 
ment. The latter was his command at the out- 
break of hostilities between the Northern and 
Southern States. 

We have now reached the period in the life of 
this great American where the current of events 
swept him swiftly to the foremost place among 
the military leaders of all the English speaking 
race. It is universally known that as General-in- 
Chief of the Confederate armies Lee at once 
achieved the most illustrious rank in the profes- 
sion of arms, and was subjected to that fierce and 
for long implacable censure which invariably at- 
tends the most furious manifestation of human 
passion, a great civil war. 

The time seems opportune for the American peo- 
ple to dispassionately inquire whether Robert E.Lee 
ever merited the reprobation even of the most 
ardent advocate of our "perpetual Union." It 
is also opportune for their countrymen to know 
that Southern men may rejoice in the reunited na- 
tion, and yet yield not a heart-throb of devotion 
to the noble soldiery of the South and their incom- 
parable chieftain. Rich as it is in military glory, 
brilliant though the bead-roll of its heroes, the Na- 
tion can no longer afford to question the military 
and personal honor of Lee and his fearless com- 
patriots, nor can our country with all its acknowl- 
edged power disclaim that warlike renown which 
gleamed on the bayonets and blazed in the volleys 
of the soldiers of the South. Nor do her greatest 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 53 

and her best longer question the one or decry the 
other. 

In the ''Memoirs of General Grant" that great 
leader declares that his fearless foemen were as 
sincere in their devotion to the cause for which 
they fought, as were his own gallant armies to the 
flag of the Union. And of the soldiers of the 
South our soldier President of to-day has de- 
clared, that "they had the most hearty faith in the 
justice of their cause," and that "he is but a poor 
American whose veins do not thrill with pride as 
he reads of the deeds of desperate prowess done 
by the Confederate armies. And if they were 
sternly fighting for their convictions of right, and 
if the Nation should thrill with the story of their 
valor, how irrational it is to question the military 
or personal honor of their hero chieftain." 

To the Constitution as he understood it, it is 
easily demonstrable that Washington himself was 
not more devoted than Lee. His written and 
spoken words, in that day of ungovernable passion, 
portray in the clearest light his immovable aver- 
sion to disunion. On January 23, 1861, to the 
wife to whom his heart was ever open, he wrote 
of Washington : "How his spirit would be grieved 
could he see the wreck of his mighty labors. I will 
not, however, permit myself to believe until all 
grounds of hope are gone, that the fruit of his 
noble deeds will be destroyed, and that his precious 
advice and virtuous example will so soon be for- 
gotten." On the same day he wrote to his son: 
"I can anticipate no greater calamity for the coun- 
try than a dissolution of the Union. It would be 
an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, 
and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor 



54 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

for its preservation. Secession is nothing but revo- 
lution. The framers of our Constitution never 
exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbear- 
ance in its formation, and surrounded it with so 
many safeguards and securities, if it was intended 
to be broken by every member of the Confederacy 
at will. It was intended for a perpetual union, 
which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the 
consent of the people in convention assembled.' , 
Since this and much other evidence of General 
Lee's devotion to the Union was first presented at 
Emory College, there came to the speaker a letter 
from Sacramento, California. It is written with 
the pathetic, tremulous hand of age and infirmity. 
It seems an important contribution to history, and 
the permission of the writer to make it public has 
been obtained. 

"I have just seen in my daily paper," wrote my 
aged correspondent, "a very short synopsis of 
your tribute to General Lee, delivered at Oxford, 
Georgia, June 9th. The synopsis is altogether too 
brief for me, who treasure anything said in 
praise of that brilliant soldier and Christian gen- 
tleman. I ask as a personal favor that you will send 
me a copy in extenso, if it was so published. In 
line with the quoted letter to his son, I recall an in- 
cident just prior to the civil or sectional war. Gen- 
eral, then Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, in command of 
the First Cavalry, U. S. A., had his headquarters 
at Fort Mason, Texas. I was then a first lieuten- 
ant, temporarily in command of Company A of 
that regiment. I left him at the post when I went 
on a short leave of absence to San Antonio, Texas. 
On my return I stopped for lunch at a place about 
half way to Mason, where a cool spring and some 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 55 

large live oaks made an ideal camp or resting- 
place. A few minutes after I got there, an ambu- 
lance came from the opposite direction, and I was 
pleasantly surprised to see General Lee step from 
it. After a cordial greeting he told me he had the 
day before received an order to report to General 
Scott at Washington, and he feared it was to con- 
sult in regard to a plan of campaign against the 
South. He also said that Virginia, true to its past 
history, would not act upon impulse or be con- 
trolled by other States, but in a patriotic, dignified 
manner would only secede after exhausting every 
honorable means to avert secession, but that if his 
State seceded, he should resign, as he deemed it 
his duty to do so. As he talked on, time and again 
he oft repeated, with emotion that came from his 
heart, the hope that Virginia would not secede and 
that the Union might be preserved. His emotion, 
emphasized by the tears that moistened his eyes, 
impressed me the more deeply, as he was usually 
entirely self-contained. Virginia seceded in the 
manner he prophesied, he resigned, and offered 
his services as he said he would. I next saw him 
when I reported to him at Richmond. Every day 
I met him off duty at our lonely post, I was more 
impressed with the simple grandeur of his private 
character, and speaking of him, eulogy becomes 
cold truth. I am unable to write except painfully 
with a pen, and must therefore beg to be excused 
for writing with a pencil. 

"I am, very respectfully your obedient servant, 
" (Signed) George B. Cosby, 

^'Ex-Brigadier General, C. S. A." 
Why then, it has been asked, did Lee draw his 
sword in maintenance of secession, which he fore- 



5 6 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

saw and prophesied would inflict such calamities 
upon the people? The reply is that, as he under- 
stood it, he did no such thing. His attitude is made 
plain in the letter to his son, already quoted: "If 
the Union is dissolved and the Government dis- 
rupted, I shall return to my native State, and share 
the miseries of my people, and, save in defence, 
will draw my sword on none." The evidence that 
he acted from the loftiest sense of duty is irresist- 
ible. To Francis P. Blair, who, as the messenger 
of President Lincoln, offered to him the active 
command of the Union armies then about to take 
the field, he exclaimed: "If I owned the four mil- 
lion slaves in the South, I would be willing to sacri- 
fice them all to the Union, but how can I draw my 
sword upon Virginia, my native State?" To him, 
what he had deemed revolution had come. He 
was convinced that the Union was in fact dissolved 
and the Government in fact disrupted. To him, 
Virginia, and Virginia alone, was his country. He 
was dealing with no theory, but with what he be- 
lieved an appalling fact. It is not necessary to the 
vindication of Lee, to argue, as some have done, 
that secession was a constitutional remedy, nor 
that it was thus taught at West Point. This made 
no impression upon him. We have seen that he 
did not believe it. This much is plain — he did 
believe that the secession of the Southern States 
ex proprio vigore did in fact disrupt and dissolve 
the Union; that by revolution already accomplish- 
ed, the Union had already ceased to exist, and 
henceforth that his allegiance was due to the State 
of his birth. 

General Lee was now fifty-three years of age, 
and his character was known to thousands. Never 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 57 

in any army was the morale and spirit of personal 
honor more elevated than among the renowned 
officers who held command in the old Regular 
Army of the United States. To these men the 
reputation of Robert E. Lee was as familiar as 
household words. Suspicion had not regarded; 
envy, the meanest of human passions, had spared 
him. Back-wounding calumny was voiceless be- 
fore the honor of Lee. From his youth upward he 
had walked with God. No man can read his life 
and utterances and hesitate in the opinion that this 
man not only believed, but had positive knowledge 
of the presence of the Divine Spirit. His every an- 
nouncement of victory was couched in terms of the 
sincerest gratitude to God. 

Lie was no propagandist of revolution. He re- 
iterated his regret for the bitterness in the public 
discussions of the day. He had no censure of 
Southern men who, like Thomas, Drayton, and 
Farragut, adhered to the Union. Nor is there a 
syllable of evidence that he attempted to with- 
draw from the Union cause any one of the multi- 
tude of skilful officers who were inevitably within 
the scope of his personal influence. For his own 
son, Lieutenant Custis Lee, a brilliant officer in 
the Regular Army, he wrote: "The times are in- 
deed calamitous. The brightness of God's coun- 
tenance seems turned from us, and His mercy 
stopped in its blissful current. Tell Custis he must 
consult his own judgment, reason, and conscience 
as to the course he may take. I do not wish him 
to be guided by my wishes or example. If I have 
done wrong, let him do better. The present is a 
momentous question which every man must settle 
for himself, and upon principle." 



5 8 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

But this is not all. He was as self-sacrificial as 
sincere. His life had been spent in the Army. His 
cordial friendships were there. His beloved home 
Arlington was within the cordon of entrenchments 
of the National Capital, and than he no one knew 
more clearly that his adhesion to the cause of the 
South meant the loss, not only of his professional 
income, but of all his earthly means. Ever ob- 
servant, knowing thoroughly the preponderant 
mechanical and military power of the Northern 
States, and knowing far better than most Southern 
men the imperturbable constancy and resolute 
courage of their citizenship, from the first he did 
not deceive himself as to the probable outcome of 
the struggle. To Southern men, who would de- 
preciate the valor of the Union soldier, he was 
accustomed to say, "You forget that we are all 
Americans." 

In addition to all of these considerations, there 
were influences powerful with ordinary men, in- 
deed with many great men, by which it was sought 
to retain his matchless military genius in the serv- 
ice of the Union. As we have seen, the chief com- 
mand of the Union Armies was offered him. No 
greater temptation, or greater opportunity, was 
ever offered a man of his marvelous genius for 
war. And after all, and as unanswerable as the 
unchallenged word and the stainless honor of Lee, 
for his vindication, there stands the record of his 
people, the steadfastness, the constancy, the sacri- 
fices, the heroism of eleven American States, an 
empire vaster than that of imperial Rome under 
the reign of an Antonine or a Trajan. "I do not 
know," said Edmund Burke, "the method of draw- 
ing up an indictment against a whole people." 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 59 

He desired to withhold his resignation until 
after his State had acted. He wrote to his brother, 
Sidney Smith Lee : "After the most anxious in- 
quiry as to the correct course for me to pursue, I 
concluded to resign and send in my resignation 
this morning. I wished to wait until the ordinance 
of secession should be acted upon by the people 
of Virginia; but war seems to have commenced 
and I am liable at any time to be ordered on duty 
which I could not conscientiously perform. To 
save me from such a position, and to prevent the 
necessity of resigning under orders, I had to act at 
once, and before I could see you again on the sub- 
ject as I had wished. I am now a private citizen, 
and have no other ambition than to remain at 
home. Save in the defence of my native State, I 
have no desire ever again to draw my sword. I 
send you my warmest love. Your affectionate 
brother, R. E. Lee." 

He offered his resignation. It was promptly 
accepted.* From the white porch of his home he 

*The biographer, the historian, and encyclopedist have made 
little, if any, mention of the acceptance of General Lee's resig- 
nation. I am indebted to the Secretary of War for this au- 
thoritative information, and the extract from the records of 
the War Department on this point, herewith printed : 

War Department, Washington, March 27, 1909. 
My Dear Judge Speer : 

In response to your letter of the 24th instant, relative to the 
acceptance of the resignation of General Robert E. Lee, I beg 
leave to say that the official records show not only that the 
resignation of General Lee (then Colonel, First Regiment, 
United States Cavalry) was accepted, but that he was officially 
notified of its acceptance, and that the fact of the acceptance 
was publicly announced in special orders issued to the Army. 

Thinking that copies of the original documents in the case 
may be of interest to you, I transmit herewith a copy of Colonel 



60 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

might behold the long columns and hear the ap- 
proaching tramp of armies, hostile to his people 
and his State. The sword of Lee flashed from its 
scabbard. Llis resolve now that the awful hour 
had come, to die if need be for his loved ones and 
his home, — 



"And how can man die better 
Than facing fearful odds, 
For the ashes of his father 
And the temples of his gods?' 



Lee's tender of resignation, dated April 20, 1861, and of the 
indorsements thereon ; also a copy of a letter from the office of 
the Adjutant-General of the Army, dated April 27, 1861, notify- 
ing Colonel Lee of the acceptance of his resignation, and a copy 
of War Department Special Orders, No. 119, of April 27, 1861, 
publishing the announcement of the acceptance of the resigna- 
tion. 

Thanking you for your very kind expressions concerning 
myself, and with assurance of my high personal regard, I am 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) J. M. Dickinson, Secretary of War. 

Arlington, Washington City P. O., 20 April, 1861. 
Honble. Simon Cameron, Secy, of War. 

Sir : I have the honour to tender the resignation of my Com- 
mission as Colonel of the 1st Regt. of Cavalry. 
Very respt. your obt. servt. 

R. E. Lee, Col. 1st Cavy. 

(Indorsement.) 
Headquarters of the Army, Washington, April 20, y 6i. 
Respectfully forwarded to the Adjutant-General by direction 
of the General-in-Chief. 

E. D. Townsend, Asst. Adjt.-Genl. 

(Indorsement.) 
Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. 
A. G. O., Apr. 24, '61. L. Thomas, Adjutant-General. 

(Indorsement.) 
Accepted. Simon Cameron, Secy, of War. 

Apl. 25, '61. 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 61 

Napoleon said that Marshal Turenne was the 
only example of a general who grew bolder as 
he grew older. The campaigns of Lee will dem- 
onstrate that, aggressive from the first, his au- 
dacity was intensified until that final day at Appo- 
mattox, when his worn, wasted, and starving vet- 
erans, assailed on rear and flanks by the massy Army 
of the Potomac, were confronted by the overpow- 
ering force of the Army of the James. Indeed, 
the predominant features of his generalship are a 
daring audacity, associated with the clearest pene- 
tration of his adversary's designs, the profoundest 
combinations of strategy, and an influence over his 
soldiers unsurpassed by that of a Napoleon or a 
Caesar. 

Holding the fortifications of Richmond in June, 
1862, with a small force, and summoning to his 
aid from the Valley of Virginia the illustrious 
Stonewall Jackson, he boldly determined to cut 
loose from his entrenchments with the remainder 
of his army, and assailing the right flank of Mc- 
Clellan, sweep down the north side of the Chicka- 
hominy, and roll up like a scroll the long lines of 

Adjutant General's Office, 

Washington, April 27, 1861. 
Col. Robert E. Lee, 1st Cavalry, Washington, D. C. 

Sir : Your resignation has been accepted by the President of 
the United States, to take effect the 25th instant. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

(Sgd.) Julius P. Garesche, Asst. Adjt.-General. 

War Department, Washington, April 27, 1861. 
Special Orders, No. 119. 

1. The resignations of the following officers have been ac- 
cepted by the President to take effect on the dates set opposite 
their names respectively, to-wit, 

Colonel Robert E. Lee, First Cavalry, April 25, 1861. 

By order L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. 



62 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

his opponent, raise the siege of the Confederate 
capital, and if possible capture the gallant and 
powerful army by which it was threatened. 

The astonishing military genius of his lieuten- 
ant, whom General Lee now called to his aid, Gen- 
eral Thomas Jonathan Jackson, immortalized as 
''Stonewall," has cast unfading luster on the arms 
of the American soldier. This great commander 
had amazed the world with his campaign in the 
Valley of Virginia. His thoughts too were ever 
with God. A Presbyterian, and one of that nu- 
merous class, the Southern Puritan, his massive 
iron jaw gave earnest to his statement that to be 
under a heavy fire filled him with "delicious ex- 
citement." While in camp he organized prayer- 
meetings among the soldiers. However, that 
dashing sabreur, Fitzhugh Lee, whose manoeuvres 
at that period of his life perhaps did not compass 
many of these devotional exercises, informs us 
that when the meeting began, the hymn was raised, 
and the proceedings were evidently a success, 
Stonewall often went to sleep. It was General 
Ewell who declared that he admired Jackson's 
genius, but that he never saw one of his couriers 
approach without expecting an order to assault the 
North Pole. It was this renowned officer, who 
eluding the army of McDowell in his front, with 
his seasoned veterans, now swiftly joined Lee 
on his left, when they precipitated themselves upon 
the foe. In seven successive days of furious fight- 
ing, McClellan after tremendous losses of men 
and munitions of war was driven to the James, the 
siege of Richmond was raised, and the Union 
Army was transferred by water to the defense of 
the Union Capital itself. In the mean time, Lee 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 63 

had determined if possible to expel the Union 
forces from the soil of Virginia, and with little 
respite for his army, now flushed with victory, 
moved northward against the army of Major-Gen- 
eral Pope. This officer was the possessor of no 
small degree of military capacity. He was, how- 
ever, not more unfortunate in the result of his 
contest with Lee, than in the proclamations with 
which he announced his plans. He stated that 
his headquarters would be in the saddle, that he 
was not accustomed to see anything of rebels but 
their backs, etc. General Lee started Stonewall 
for this confident warrior. General McClellan, 
who was a highly scientific commander, anxiously 
observing the situation, did not have his appre- 
hensions altogether allayed by Pope's proclama- 
tions. He wired to the War Department in Wash- 
ington: "I don't like Jackson's movements. He 
will suddenly appear when least expected." Gen- 
eral McClellan was prophetic, for Jackson struck 
Pope with terrible impact at Cedar Mountain, by 
a tremendous forced march swept around his flank, 
tore up the railroad in his rear, captured a number 
of guns, many prisoners, and several trains loaded 
with stores and munitions of war. The weary 
"foot cavalry" of Jackson, as they were called, 
now revelled in luxuriant plenty. They were not, 
as usual, violating the scriptural injunction by say- 
ing "what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or 
wherewithal shall we be clothed." And now Pope, 
perceiving the exposed position of this Confederate 
force, informed General McDowell that he would 
"bag Jackson and his whole crowd" ; but that war- 
rior, after his soldiers were stuffed to repletion 
with the delicious "commissaries" designed for the 



64 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

nourishment of Pope's army, bearing off every- 
thing not too hot to hold, or too heavy to carry, 
set fire to the rest, and leisurely marched away in 
another direction. Pope marched to Manassas. 
Jackson was not there. Misled by the track of 
two divisions, which to deceive him Jackson had 
sent in that direction, Pope posted off to Center- 
ville, but Jackson was gone. In the meaa time, 
"Old Jack," with "all his war paint on," and with 
his intrepid veterans, was in battle formation wait- 
ing for Pope, behind the line of an unfinished rail- 
road stretching from the Warrenton turnpike in 
the direction of Sudley's Mill, where it suited him 
to make his fight. 

Against this single corps of Lee's army, Pope, 
having been largely reinforced by McClellan, di- 
rected a dreadful attack. The disproportion in 
numbers against the gray fighters was terrifying, 
but with unshaken tenacity they held their ground. 
At last, Longstreet's columns came pouring 
through Thoroughfare Gap. Lee, massing his 
artillery against the flank of Pope's army and at 
the same time directing against it the flaming ad- 
vance of the Confederate infantry, paralyzed the 
attack on Jackson. The Union army, driven from 
the field with fearful loss, took refuge in the en- 
trenchments at Washington, and the victory was 
complete. Well might the exultant boys in gray 
lift their voices in their lilting marching song: 

"Lee formed his line of battle, 

Said, 'Boys, you need not fear, 
For Longstreet's in our center, 
And Jackson's in their rear.'" 

Of the sensations of General Pope, on the other 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 6s 

hand, we have no adequate account, but notwith- 
standing his recent proclamations, it is possible 
that he was willing to resign his task to some other 
great general. Possibly his state of mind was like 
that of an unregenerate church member, who had 
listened to a long and somewhat tiresome sermon 
on the Major and Minor Prophets. And when 
the good preacher asked, "Where shall we place 
Amos?" "Brother," said the tired one rising up, 
"Amos may have my place if he wants it, for I'm 
going home." 

Not content with these successes, General Lee 
determined to carry the war into his enemy's coun- 
try. The Army of Northern Virginia, its bands 
playing the inspiring strain "Maryland, My Mary- 
land," forded the swift Potomac, while Jackson 
assailed a large force of his enemy at Harper's 
Ferry and reduced that place. Leaving another 
to arrange the details of the surrender, Jackson 
marched with amazing speed to join Lee at 
Sharpsburg, where the latter was confronted by 
the magnificent army of McClellan. General Lee 
was now in great danger. Nothing indeed saved 
him but the skill of his dispositions and the des- 
perate determination with which his slender line 
of infantry, almost without artillery support, for 
hour after hour, beat back and fought to ex- 
haustion one of the bravest and most powerful 
armies ever assembled under the Stars and Stripes. 
Fighting McClellan to a standstill, Lee at his leis- 
ure coolly withdrew his army across the Potomac. 
Here he was followed, but with such display of cau- 
tion by the Federal commander, that the Govern- 
ment at Washington, losing patience with that distin- 
guished officer, removed him from command. Gen- 



66 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

eral Burnside, a courtly gentleman and heroic sol- 
dier, was now entrusted with the task of taking 
Richmond. 

The winter was now at hand, and Burnside 
moved his gigantic force to Fredericksburg. From 
the heights of Stafford, like Moses on Pisgah, he 
"viewed the landscape o'er," but no "sweet fields 
beyond the swelling flood" enchanted his vision. In- 
stead, the spectacle of Lee's gray fighters, holding 
every coign of vantage, inviting him to come 
across. So indeed he did, and through one of the 
bloodiest days in all its glorious history, the Army 
of the Potomac again and again essayed to break 
those fierce lines which barred its way to Rich- 
mond. The carnage was fearful, and despite the 
unshrinking courage of the Union Army, under 
the pitiless death hail the task was impossible. 
For a moment, in that portion of the line com- 
manded by Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate 
formation was broken, but the brave division of 
General Jubal Early came rushing to the point of 
danger. Ever jocular in the moment of greatest 
peril, the shouts of those farmer boys were heard 
above the roar of battle and the shriek of shells: 
"Here comes old Jubal; let Jubal straighten that 
fence." And the fence was straightened and not 
again broken. Jackson's men feigned to ascribe 
their temporary disorder to the fact that their gen- 
eral had that day replaced his ordinarily dingy suit 
with a bright new uniform resplendent with gold 
lace. Some of them said that "Old Jack was 
afraid of his clothes and would not get down to 
his work." 

After this disaster General Burnside was re- 
moved, and General Hooker was placed in com- 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 67 

mand of the Union army. Crossing the Rappa- 
hannock and Rapidan above Fredericksburg with- 
out resistance, the moring of April the 30th, 1 863, 
found his army concentrated at Chancellorsville. 
At the same time, General Sedgwick crossed the 
river below Fredericksburg with a force of fifty- 
two thousand four hundred and one men. It was 
presumed that Lee would confront this powerful 
demonstration on his right, and thus enable 
Hooker to move down the river, overwhelm his 
left and take his fortifications in reverse. 

In the mean time, Stuart's cavalry had kept the 
Confederate commander advised of all these 
movements. The cool judgment of Lee was not 
disturbed. He saw that Sedgwick was three miles 
below Fredericksburg, and that Hooker was ten 
miles above. He determined to retard the march 
of Sedgwick, to move on Hooker, and crush him be- 
fore he could get out of the Wilderness. On the 
morning of the first of May, General Hooker, per- 
suaded that Lee was attempting to stand off Sedg- 
wick thirteen miles away, put his massive columns 
in motion on the road towards Fredericksburg; 
but when the head of his columns debouched from 
the forest near Chancellorsville, to his amaze- 
ment he beheld the ragged but confident veterans 
of Lee advancing in line of battle. General Hook- 
er was a soldier of fame and a man of intrepid 
courage. He had meant to attack Lee, and it had 
not occurred to him, it seems, that he might be him- 
self attacked. Perceiving that Lee would destroy 
the heads of his columns as fast as they would 
come out of the forest, he ordered his army to fall 
back to their lines around Chancellorsville. Lee 
swiftly followed. The Confederate leader soon 



68 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

discovered that frontal attack on Hooker's line 
was impossible; but that night a belligerent par- 
son, the Rev. Dr. Lacy, came with Stuart to Lee, 
and informed him that it was practicable to move 
around by the Wilderness tavern, and strike Hook- 
er on his right flank. Jackson, with his whole 
corps, was immediately ordered to make this 
movement. 

The next morning witnessed the last meeting, 
in this life, between Lee and Jackson. Lee was 
standing hard by the bivouac, watching Jackson's 
troops as they sped by with the untiring pace of the 
forced march. Jackson stopped and exchanged 
a few words with his noble chief, but speedily re- 
joining his troops, their last parting was over. The 
Duke of Wellington, it is said, declared, "A man 
of fine Christian sensibilities is totally unfit for the 
profession of a soldier;" but of this incomparable 
pair it is true that all the bloody annals of our race 
contain no account of two others who surpassed 
them in military genius or achievement, and of no 
other with more implicit faith in the promise to 
the Christian of salvation and immortal life be- 
yond the grave. 

The sequel of the movement of Jackson's corps 
is familiar history. Fitzhugh Lee by personal 
reconnaissance had located the exact position of 
the Union right, and conducted that great sol- 
dier and his terrible infantry to the point of at- 
tack. Swiftly forming his divisions as they came 
up at right angles to Hooker's line, Jackson's men 
with their terrifying charging yell burst upon the 
unsuspecting Federals. It is said that "Rabbits 
and squirrels ran, and flocks of birds flew in front 
of the advance of these twenty-six thousand men, 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 69 

who had dropped so suddenly into their forest 
haunts. The surging, seething sea swept away all 
barriers. Many of the officers attempted to turn 
back the human tide, but as well might Pharaoh 
have tried to resist the walls of the Red Sea. Lee's 
audacity had won. Hooker's right had been fairly 
turned and rolled in a sheet of flame upon his 
center." 

Now the night had fallen. In the confusion and 
darkness, Stonewall Jackson fell by the fire of his 
own men. Jackson had lost his left arm; Lee, as 
he declared, the right arm of his army. To the 
last, Jackson's men upheld to the uttermost their 
renown as incomparable soldiers, but never again 
did men behold the fire and fury of their battle, 
as when driven by the impassioned energy of that 
impetuous soul, now gone to its reward. The next 
morning the battle was renewed. After a bloody 
day Hooker and Sedgwick were both driven across 
the Rappahannock, and for two years more the 
Stars and Bars were to float defiantly above the 
Confederate Capital. 

With his army at the very acme of its morale 
and its efficiency, Lee now determined to again 
cross the Potomac. Thus the campaign of Gettys- 
burg began. No other great movement directed 
by the Southern commander ever had more hope- 
ful promise of success. Never so formidable was 
that heroic American army of the Southern States, 
seasoned and inured to war, which marched under 
their shot-riven battle-flags to Gettysburg, the 
high-water mark of the Confederacy. The story 
of this battle of Titans is an oft-told tale. I will 
not discuss the causes of disaster there to the Army 
of Northern Virginia. The profession of arms 



7 o ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

and the students of military history the world 
around discuss it. But it is known of all men that 
it was ascribable neither to error of military judg- 
ment, to faulty dispositions on the part of the Con- 
federate commander, nor to the want of valor 
and enthusiasm by his devoted soldiery. Beyond 
the nobility, almost superhuman, of assuming the 
blame himself, Lee was silent. From his lips no 
word of censure ever fell upon the military renown 
of his great corps commander, the intrepid and 
immovable Longstreet. 

We have seen Lee in victory. Let us for a mo- 
ment regard him in defeat. Colonel Freemantle 
of the Coldstream Guards is our witness. Pick- 
ett's division had been destroyed. In the hour of 
their repulse the Confederate officers were every 
moment expecting the counter-stroke, like that with 
which at Waterloo Wellington had crushed Na- 
poleon. Said the distinguished officer of the British 
Army, from whose account I quote: "The further 
I got, the greater became the number of wounded. 
At last I came to a perfect stream of them flocking 
through the woods in numbers as great as the 
crowd in Oxford Street in the middle of the day. 
Some were walking alone on crutches, composed 
of two rifles, others were supported by men less 
badly wounded than themselves, and others were 
carried on stretchers by the ambulance corps; but 
in no case did I see a sound man helping the 
wounded to the rear, unless he carried the red 
badge of the ambulance corps. They were still 
under a heavy fire; shells were continually bring- 
ing down great limbs of trees, and carrying fur- 
ther destruction amongst this melancholy proces- 
sion." Colonel Freemantle continues : "The con- 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 71 

duct of General Lee was perfectly sublime. Lie 
was engaged in rallying and in encouraging the 
broken troops, and was riding about, a little in 
front of the wood, quite alone * * * 
the whole of his staff being engaged in a similar 
manner further to the rear. His face, which is 
always placid and cheerful, did not show signs of 
the slightest disappointment, care, or annoyance; 
and he was addressing to every soldier he met a 
few words of encouragement, such as, 'All this 
will come right in the end; we'll talk it over after- 
wards; but, in the mean time, all good men must 
rally. We want all good and true men just now/ 
etc. He spoke to all the wounded men that passed 
him, and the slightly wounded he exhorted to 'bind 
up their hurts and take up a musket' in this emer- 
gency. Very few of them failed to answer his ap- 
peal, and I saw many badly wounded men take 
off their hats and cheer him. He said to me, 'This 
has been a sad day for us, Colonel, * * * 
a sad day, but we can't expect always to gain vic- 
tories.' It was difficult," said Colonel Free- 
mantle, "to exaggerate the critical state of affairs 
as they appeared about this time. Notwithstand- 
ing the misfortune which had so suddenly befallen 
him, General Lee seemed to observe everything, 
however trivial. When a mounted officer began 
licking his horse for shying at the bursting of a 
shell, he caHed out, 'Don't whip him, Captain, 
don't whip him. I've got just such another foolish 
horse myself, and whipping does no good.' Gen- 
eral Lee and his officers were evidently fully im- 
pressed with a sense of the situation; yet there was 
much lessnoise, fuss, or confusion of orders than 
at an ordinary field-day. The men as they were 



72 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

rallied in the wood were brought up in detach- 
ments, and lay down quietly and coolly in the posi- 
tions assigned to them." 

In all that gallant army Colonel Freemantle 
saw but one demoralized man. "I happened," 
he said, "to see a man lying flat on his face in a 
small ditch, and I remarked that I didn't think he 
seemed dead; this drew General Lee's attention 
to the man, who commenced groaning dismally. 
Finding appeals to his patriotism of no avail, Gen- 
eral Lee had him ignominiously set on his legs by 
some neighboring gunners." This observer quotes 
the non-commissioned officers and privates to 
whom he talked: "When they saw General Lee, 
they would say, 'We've not lost confidence in the 
old man; this day's work won't do him no harm. 
'Uncle Robert' will get us into Washington yet; 
you bet he will,' " etc. And he adds, "No words 
that I can use will adequately express the extraor- 
dinary patience and fortitude with which the 
wounded Confederates bore their sufferings." 

The day after this terrible and disastrous fight- 
ing, the retreating army of Lee again came under 
the observation of this critical and impartial ob- 
server. There were no signs of disorder or de- 
feat. He said, "The road was full of soldiers 
marching in a particularly lively manner * * * 
the wet and mud seemed to have produced no 
effect whatever on their spirits, which were as 
boisterous as ever. They had got hold of colored 
prints of Mr. Lincoln, which they were passing 
about from company to company, with many re- 
marks upon the personal beauty of Uncle Abe. 
The same old chaff was going on of 'come out of 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 73 

that hat * * * I know you are in it * * * 
I see your legs a-dangling down/ " etc. 

Indeed, the evidence of impartial observers, of 
Confederate officers, and of the events after the 
battle, notwithstanding this terrible experience, 
and the loss of twenty thousand four hundred and 
fifty-one men, is that the morale of Lee's army was 
in little or nothing impaired. It had inflicted a 
loss upon its gallant opponents of twenty-three 
thousand and three killed, wounded and captured. 
No serious attack was made upon its retreating 
columns. So severe was the blow it had inflicted 
upon General Meade, and so cautious was his ad- 
vance, that, nettled by criticisms from Washing- 
ton, the general of the victorious army at once 
tendered his resignation. 

But General Meade was not to blame for his 
caution. It is obvious that before there can be a 
pursuit, there must be somebody to run away, and 
nobody ran from Gettysburg. Indeed, after the 
First Manassas, a routed or disorganized army 
was scarcely seen on either side in the great Civil 
War. The opposing armies were of the people. 
When the call to arms came, the plow was stopped 
in the furrow, the whirr of machinery was hushed, 
and the hammer slumbered voiceless on the anvil. 
Oh, how quickly they came, and how gallantly and 
lightly they marched into the valley and the 
shadow of death. They could not foresee its hor- 
rors. Theirs had been the piping times of peace. 
But when they closed with the foe on the crest of 
battle, also theirs was the blood and nerve the 
king of terrors himself could not appall. Four 
years of deadly fighting, dreadful suffering, and 
unshaken constancy convinced the world that the 



74 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

military virtues of the American soldier have 
never been surpassed. Whether like the thin red 
line that held the slopes at Waterloo, they with- 
stood the assault and rolled back the charging 
columns, or like the Household Brigade at Stein- 
kirk, with the shout, "We must do it with the 
sword," the gentlemen of France hurled their col- 
umn on the foe, they were equally unsurpassed. 
But few remain. Most are old and worn. The 
untiring step which kept the pace of the forced 
march is now feeble. The hand that pulled the 
lanyard or guided the steed is tremulous. The 
clear eye that glanced along the deadly rifle is 
growing dim. And when the last of the venerable 
throng shall 

"Sink to rest, 
With all his country's wishes blest," 

then will their deeds, as they deserve, receive 
proud recompense." 

"We give in charge their names to the sweet lyre. 

The historic Muse, proud of the sacred treasure, 
Marches with it down to latest times, 

And Sculpture in her turn gives bond in stone and ever-during 
brass, 

To guard and to immortalize the trust." 

No complaint ever fell from Lee's lips, but on 
more than one occasion he declared, "If General 
Jackson had been at Gettysburg, we would have 
won a great victory." 

The winter of '63 and '64 was passed by Gen- 
eral Lee in unremitting efforts to strengthen his 
army for the dreadful campaigns to ensue. The 
Confederacy had been cut in two by the fall of 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 75 

Vicksburg. The presence of hostile armies in 
North Georgia had restricted the resources of the 
Army of Northern Virginia practically to three 
States, and these were denuded to the soil. But 
scanty supplies could be forwarded, for the con- 
dition of the railroads and rolling stock was ir- 
remediable. Such are the misfortunes of a people 
without mechanical skill, or power. All of the 
ports were now tightly blockaded save Wilming- 
ton, and that was closed with the fall of Fort 
Fisher. Well informed men everywhere, and es- 
peciallymilitarymen, were convinced that the army 
of Lee could not endure another campaign. The 
impossibility of feeding his men overwhelmed the 
General. One day he received by mail an anony- 
mous communication from a private soldier, con- 
taining a minute and meager slice of salt port 
carefully packed between two oak chips. With 
this came a letter, stating that this was the daily 
ration of meat, that the writer could not live on 
it, and though a gentleman, was reduced by the 
cravings of hunger to the necessity of stealing. 
This incident gave General Lee great pain and 
strong remonstrances were addressed to the com- 
missary department, but all in vain. He writes 
his wife that "thousands are barefoot, thousands 
with fragments of shoes, and all without over- 
coats, blankets, or warm clothing." Of a move- 
ment he was compelled to abandon, he declares, 
"I could not bear to expose them to certain suffer- 
ing on an uncertain issue." Doing all in his power 
to alleviate their physical sufferings, he does not 
neglect the spiritual welfare of his men. He con- 
fers with the chaplains and attends their religious 
services. More than once, in the stress of a swift 



76 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

ride to the front, he is known to dismount and join 
in the simple prayer service of his soldiers. His 
headquarters during that winter are in a plain 
army tent stationed on a hillside near Orange 
Court House. He shares all the privations of 
his men, and writes home to his distressed wife 
with unabating cheerfulness. One day he writes, 
"All the brides have come on a visit to the army, 
Mrs. Ewell, Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Heth, etc." Gen- 
eral Ewell, who had lost one of his legs in the 
campaign of '62, had been married in a romantic 
fashion. "Virginia," said a contemporary, "never 
had a truer gentleman, a braver soldier, nor an 
odder, more lovable fellow." He was very ab- 
sent-minded. His bride had been a widow, a Mrs. 
Brown, and he would with great formality intro- 
duce her, "Allow me to present my wife, Mrs. 
Brown." 

And now the year of battle was at hand. The 
entire military power of the Union was placed 
under the control of one master mind, General 
U. S. Grant, a great commander, not more clear- 
sighted and formidable in the operations of war, 
against his enemy with arms in his hands, than 
gentle and magnanimous to that enemy in honor- 
able defeat. So absolute was his authority, that 
on April 30, 1864, Mr. Lincoln wrote him: "The 
particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek 
to know. I wish not to obtrude any constraints or 
restraints upon you." Well had it been for the 
hopes of the Confederacy had similar powers been 
given to General Lee. This was finally done, but 
only a few days before Appomattox. 

Lee now commands sixty-two thousand men. 
There are present with Grant's colors one hundred 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 77 

and eighteen thousand. These deployed in double 
line of battle would cover a front of thirty miles, 
and overlap Lee's line by fourteen miles. Grant 
may confront Lee with equal numbers, and at the 
same time with fifty-six thousand men assail him 
on either flank. Nor does this take into account 
the enormous reinforcements which the Union 
General is constantly receiving. 

On the 5th of May Grant crosses the Rappa- 
hannock and the Rapidan, and starts with his 
massy columns on the road to Richmond. Soon 
his thousands are entangled in the Wilderness, 
and Lee, ever audacious, with a portion of his 
army is thundering on his right marching flank. 
"It is," said a biographer of General Lee, "a ter- 
rible field for a battle, a region of tangled under- 
brush, ragged foliage, and knotted trunks. You 
hear the saturnalia, gloomy, hideous, desperate, 
raging unconfined. You see nothing, and the very 
mystery augments the horror; from out the depths 
comes the ruin that had been wrought, in bleeding 
shapes borne in blankets or on stretchers. Soldiers 
fall, writhe, and die unseen, their bodies lost in 
the bushes, their dying groans drowned in the 
steady, continuous, unceasing crash." Both ar- 
mies fight with all the intrepid courage of their 
heroic line. 

With great sweep to the left, Grant seeks to 
reach Spottsylvania Court House, and interpose 
between Lee and Richmond, but when he reaches 
his objective the riflemen of Lee are in his 
path. For twelve days the intrepid army of the 
Union reiterated the fierce and continued assaults 
upon the thin gray line. Occasionally broken by 
overpowering numbers, but rallying and charging 



78 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

anew under the inspiring presence of their leader, 
these heroes in rags ever hold their ground. 

At half past four on the morning of the 12th of 
May, over a salient on General Ewell's works, 
that gallant Union General whom Meade termed 
''Hancock the superb" rushed a storming column, 
taking many Confederate prisoners and twenty 
pieces of artillery. The line was untenable. The 
engineering eye of Lee had detected this defect, 
but while withdrawing the artillery to make a re- 
alignment, the charging columns came. The mo- 
ment was critical. The Confederate army was cut 
in two. And, determined to restore his line, with 
the fighting blood of his hero strain lighting his 
face with the glow of battle, Lee, mounted on 
"Traveler," brave as his master, dashes to the 
front of the charging columns, and bares that good 
gray head, to lead his men into the death hail 
sweeping the Bloody Angle. But another is there ! 
In civil life and on the crest of battle a leader of 
men, daring, magnetic, eloquent, a hero fighter 
while the war is on, but ever afterwards an apostle 
of peace and reconciliation, who, reflecting glory 
upon the generation he survived, crowned with all 
that should accompany old age, idolized by every 
Southern and venerated by every American heart, 
to the last "sustained and soothed by an unfalter- 
ing trust," has now drawn 

"The drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams," 

Lieutenant-General John B. Gordon. And under 
the wave of Gordon's sword, the fearless veterans 
advance. The Stars and Bars, and Stars and 
Stripes, are in actual contact across the blood- 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 79 

stained rampart. The driving storms of rifle-balls 
gnaw off the forest trees, which crushing fall on 
friend and foe. Drenched with rain, covered with 
clay, and blackened with powder, the opposing 
lines desperately fight. Shells bursting from 
mortar fire rain down destruction, storms of canis- 
ter sweep the parapets, the Minies ceaselessly hail 
across the appalling scene. The dead bodies some- 
times four deep are again and again thrown from 
the trenches, which run with blood. When after 
twenty hours of death grapple, through sheer ex- 
haustion, the battle fails, unshaken in their lines 
stand the heroes in gray, and Gordon's pledge to 
Lee is kept. 

Day after day the tragic, piteous story is the 
same. On the North Anna, at Cold Harbor, in 
many an unnamed battle, the army of Grant hurls 
itself with devoted courage against the swerveless 
constancy of Lee's fierce and hungry soldiery. 
Thousands of the bravest and the best on both 
sides perish. When the fight is over, the inanimate 
clay is in the trenches laid, and the slender earth- 
works which sheltered the living turned over on 
the silent heroes, whether of the Blue or the Gray, 
now shelter the dead. 

Convinced that in the field the army of Lee is 
unconquerable, General Grant swiftly transfers 
his army to the south of the James. He intends to 
surprise Petersburg, and compel the evacuation 
of Richmond. But Lee's penetration is not at 
fault. The slumbers of the people of the Con- 
federate Capital are disturbed by the tramp of 
marching thousands. It is the tireless quickstep 
of Lee's fighters hastening at top speed to find their 
foe. In all the history of human strife never was 



8o ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

march more fateful. The steam flotilla and the 
pontoon bridges of General Grant had given his 
army a start of many hours. He was now south 
of the James. Petersburg, gateway to the Con- 
federate Capital, was almost within his grasp. 
Lee's army was north of the river, many miles 
away. The most untutored of all those desperate 
fighters knew the danger to their cause as well as 
Lee himself. No sound in those fierce ranks, save 
the clank of accoutrements, the tread of rushing 
thousands, and the stern commands of their offi- 
cers. With set and rigid faces, parched throats, 
and untiring muscles, onward, ever onward press 
those terrible men in gray. Not in vain now, the 
wind and training of years of furious fighting, hard 
marching, and slender rations. Not in vain 
through their great hearts streamed the hero 
blood, flowing down from far distant sires, from 
sires who rolled back from German forests 
the fierce legions of Varus, from Saxons who had 
hurled from the trenches at Hastings the mail- 
clad warriors of the Conqueror, from Crusaders 
who had "swarmed up the breach at Ascalon," 
from yeomanry who had cloven down the chivalry 
of France at Agincourt and Poitiers, from ragged 
Continentals who had won American independ- 
ence. And so, when the first blush of dawn breaks 
on Petersburg, the last stronghold of the Confed- 
eracy, and the charging columns of Grant rush to 
the attack to brush away the slender force of vet- 
erans, home-guards, and convalescents, who stood 
them off the night before, up rose from the trenches 
the rebel yell, out broke the riven battle flags, 
down came the rifles with steady aim, and forth 
blazed the withering volleys, which told the Army 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 81 

of the Potomac that the men of Manassas, Fred- 
ericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, the Wild- 
erness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor had again 
arrived in time. 

As predicted by General Lee, the siege of Peters- 
burg is but a question of days. Held by a mistaken 
policy immovably in his lines, his unequalled pow- 
ers as a strategist are now of no avail. His enemy 
finds him at will. His bright sword, whose light- 
ning play for so long has parried every thrust, and 
again and again has flashed over the guard, and 
disabled his foe, now held fast as if on an anvil, 
may be shattered by the hammer of Grant. His 
is soon a phantom army. The lean and hungry 
faces seem to belong to shadows without bodies. 
The winter falls; their uniform is a rude patch- 
work of rags. On those rare occasions when there 
are cattle to kill, the green hides are eagerly seized, 
and fashioned into rough buskins to protect bare 
and bleeding feet from the stony and frozen 
ground. Often their ration is a little parched 
corn, sometimes corn on the cob. Jocular to the 
last, "Les Miserables" they call themselves, ap- 
propriating, with pronunciation which would have 
startled the author, the title of Victor Hugo's fa- 
mous novel, which, reprinted in Richmond on 
wrapping paper, affords some of them solace 
through these awful days. 

"Day and night for months," writes one of 
Lee's biographers, "an incessant fire without one 
break rained down upon them all known means 
of destruction. Their constancy during those dis- 
mal days of winter never failed. Night came; 
they lay down in their trenches where cold and the 
enemy's shells left them no repose. Snow, hail, 



82 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

wind, rain, cannon-fire, starvation — they had to 
bear all without a ray of hope." Their lines stretch 
from below Richmond on the north side of the 
James, to Hatchers Run far to the south of Peters- 
burg. In front of them, supplied with every com- 
fort and every munition of war, is a mighty, brave, 
and disciplined army. In many places the Federal 
and Confederate lines are not a dozen yards apart. 
Finally, with thirty-three thousand men, Lee is 
holding forty miles of trenches; and every night 
his men unroll their thin blankets, and unloose 
their shoe-strings with deep forebodings of what 
the morrow may bring. Officers and men know 
that the end is at hand, but their desperate courage 
never falters; and when at last the powerful army 
of Sheridan is detached to assail his right flank, 
and Lee is compelled to withdraw the infantry 
from his line to meet this movement, in the absence 
of defenders, Grant, as if on parade, though with 
dreadful loss, marches over the Confederate 
lines; Richmond falls, and after a brief interval 
of heroic unavailing strife, the Army of Northern 
Virginia is annihilated. The fearless remnant of 
the worn and wasted veterans, surrounded at Ap- 
pomattox by ten times their number, without a 
word of unkindness from their brave foemen, 
whom they had so often defeated, so long held at 
bay, with all the honors of war, surrender their 
battle-riven standards. 

Then came that ever to be remembered scene, 
when his loving veterans gather at the side of their 
General, press his hands, touch his clothing, and 
caress his horse. In simple, manly words, he said: 
"Men, we have fought through the war together. 
I have done my best for you. My heart is too full 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 83 

to say more." And then came the last order to 
the Army of Northern Virginia, read through 
tears which wash the grime of battle from the vet- 
eran's face; not tears of anger or humiliation, but 
tears of sympathy for him, of exultation and pride 
for the martial honor even for thehumblest private, 
his leadership had won; honor preserved to them 
with arms in their hands, by the terms of the sur- 
render; the proudest heritage to the latest times 
of all the generations of that hero strain. Aye, 
more, a heritage of valor and potency, now and 
forever at the command of our reunited land, 
which the powers of earth may well heed in all the 
contingencies threatening to our safety the future 
may have in store. 

And came then that sad autumnal day, so many 
years ago, yet so near to us who wore the gray, as, 
standing with wife and loved ones, to invoke on his 
frugal table the blessing of the Master he loved 
and served, he sank to rise no more. Oh, what 
then did foe and friend say of Lee? Much was 
said, but all was said by one, in the words of the 
Arthurian legend: 

"Ah, Sir Lancelot, there thou liest. Thou wert 
head of all Christian knights, and now, I dare say, 
thou wert the courtliest knight that ever bare 
shield * * * and thou wert the kindest man 
that ever strake with sword; and thou wert the 
goodliest person that ever came among press of 
knights ; and thou wert the meekest man and the 
gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies; and 
thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe 
that ever put spear in rest." 

Deny him a place by Washington? Ah, is it 
sure, if in the awful hour when hostile armies 



84 ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

approached Virginia's soil, the winds of the 
Prophet had breathed upon the dead that they 
might live, caught from the wall at Mount Vernon 
by his reincarnated hand, the defensive blade of 
Washington would not have gleamed beside the 
sword of Lee? Repel not then, my country, the 
fervid love of thy sons who fought with Lee, and 
of their sons. Their prowess thou hast seen: on 
the hills of Santiago, on the waters of Luzon. The 
flowers of Spring thy equal hand wilt henceforth 
strew on graves of all thy hero dead. Repel not 
then his blameless name from thy Immortals' 
scroll. And in thy need, on those who love him 
thou wilt not call in vain. 




FACING PAGE 85 



ULYSSES S. GRANT* 

Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: 

I am sensible of my high privilege in the oppor- 
tunity to come from my distant Southern home to 
take part in these memorial exercises in honor of 
the great American whose natal day we celebrate. 
Of the illustrious man himself you require no in- 
formation. You are familiar with the incidents of 
his youth, and with his gallantry and devotion to 
duty as a young officer in the famous little army 
of our country at Monterey, Cerro Gordo, Cha- 
pultepec, Molino del Rey, and other victories 
which culminated when the stars and stripes 
streamed above the city of Montezuma. You who 
were his neighbors know his Spartan simplicity 
and modest bearing, before glory marked him as 
her own. You who were his comrades rejoice in 
your recollections of his indomitable courage, his 
fertility of resource, his marvelous military intui- 
tions, the broad comprehensiveness of his strategy 
and the dynamic energy with which he reiterated 
blow upon blow until his campaigns were crowned 
with victory. And thousands who now claim with 
pride the honor of being his countrymen, but who 
fought him with unflinching but unavailing valor 
at Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and 
from the Wilderness to Appomattox, cherish with 

*Delivered at the invitation of the Grant Birthday Associa- 
tion of Galena, Illinois, in that city, on General Grant's seventy- 
seventh birthday, April 27, 1898. 

85 



86 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

grateful remembrance his generosity to the con- 
quered in the hour of his triumph. Indeed, to 
him more justly than to Marlborough we may all 
apply the lines of Addison : 

"Unbounded courage and compassion joined, 
Tempered each other in the victor's mind, 
Alternately proclaim him good and great, 
And make the hero and the man complete." 

While we indulge the national pride, now the 
common heritage of our reunited country, in the as- 
tonishing renown, achieved in a period incredibly 
brief by this unpretentious citizen of historic 
Galena, it may be well for us to contemplate the 
mighty issue for which he fought, and reverently 
inquire if the soul of the hero patriot was not 
animated and impelled by a power beyond the com- 
pass of finite intelligence. The providence of God, 
we may believe, has been often beneficently shown 
in seasons of great emergency, by the phenomenal 
development of men of preeminent power, men 
whose moral and mental forces seemed designed 
by the Creator to meet and to supply to the utter- 
most exigencies of the nation and of civilization. 
Such a man was David, the greatest king of Israel. 
A thousand years before the coming of the 
Saviour, when the ancient people of God were torn 
by internal dissensions, and their national existence 
threatened by hostile neighbors, this great He- 
brew, displaying in his own person the noblest 
attributes of his race, obliterated tribal jealousies, 
consolidated the nation, extended its dominions 
from the mountains "round about Jerusalem" to 
theOrontes and the Euphrates, and perpetuated his 
martial and civic victories in immortal strains of 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 87 

triumph and adoration to Jehovah. Such was 
Cromwell. Unlike David, no prophetic hand had 
imprinted the seal of divinity upon his brow, but 
the words of his mother's blessing, in her ninetieth 
year, gave evidence that she foresaw his mighty 
services to liberty and to man. With the myste- 
rious foreknowledge of the dying, the noble 
woman uttered this touching benediction: "The 
Lord cause his face to shine upon you and comfort 
you in all your adversities, and enable you to do 
great things for the glory of your most high God, 
and be a relief unto His people. My dear son, I 
leave my heart with thee. A good night." 

How the mother's prayer was granted, some of 
the brightest pages in the annals of our race re- 
cord. Her fleeting senses must have caught the 
future accents of that imperial voice which, in the 
words of Macaulay, "arrested the sails of the 
Lybian pirates and the persecuting fires of Rome." 
She must have heard the thunderous hoofs of his 
Ironsides as they charged through Rupert's squad- 
rons on Marston Moor and made them "as stubble 
to his swords," and as the morning sun shown on 
the steel-clad lines at Dunbar, the shout of the 
patriot, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scat- 
tered!" 

Such a man was Washington, father of his coun- 
try. But for his incomparable fortitude, perse- 
verance, reserve, resourcefulness, heroism, and 
honor, that country had not been, and undoubted 
as were the military merits of the patriot com- 
mander, his chief title to the love and veneration 
of his countrymen springs from his labors to create 
the Union, the salvation of which in its darkest 
hour is mainly ascribable to the fixedness of will, 



88 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

the perfectness of judgment, the rectitude of in- 
tention, the comprehension of mighty movements, 
the intrepid mind and dauntless courage accorded 
by the providence of God to Ulysses S. Grant. 

The War for Independence, which made the 
Union possible, was fought without a government. 
It is probably true that its seven years would not 
have been seven months, before the final discom- 
fiture of the British, if Patrick Henry's three mil- 
lions, "armed in the holy cause of liberty," had 
been controlled by the Constitution as it exists to- 
day. Government without law, or without power 
which is a law unto itself, is impossible. The pa- 
triots had neither. It is true that they had the 
Continental Congress, which described itself as 
"The Delegates Appointed by the Good People 
of These Colonies." This body deserved the 
eulogium of Chatham who declared it to be "the 
most honorable assembly of statesmen since those 
of the ancient Greeks and Romans in the most 
virtuous times." This Congress adopted the Dec- 
laration of Independence, which was termed "The 
Declaration of the Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress Assembled." It 
is true that this declaration recited that, as free 
and independent States, "they have full power to 
levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, es- 
tablish commerce, and to do all other acts and 
things which independent States may of right do." 
But it is also true that there was neither law nor 
authority by which the Congress could compel the 
obedience of the people, or make effective the lofty 
purposes of that noble instrument. Benjamin 
Franklin, with that sagacity of which his name 
will be always proverbial, nearly a year before the 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 89 

Declaration, had placed his unerring finger on that 
weak spot of our economy. Long the advocate of 
a union between the colonies, this great man now 
submitted a draft of a proposed union which 
should last until reconciliation with the mother 
country, and if reconciliation could not be, then 
for a perpetual union. But Franklin's plan was 
ignored. It is, however, true that on the nth 
day of June, 1776, when the Continental Congress 
appointed a committee to prepare the Declaration 
of Independence, it provided for another com- 
mittee to prepare and digest a form of confedera- 
tion. The report of this committee was not ap- 
proved by Congress until the 15th day of Novem- 
ber, 1777. It was not adopted by a sufficient num- 
ber of the States until the 1st day of March, 178 1, 
but seven months and nineteen days before the 
surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. In 
the mean time it had seemed, that notwithstanding 
the extraordinary exertions of Washington, the 
cause of the patriots would perish. Without credit, 
with no power to collect taxes, or enforce requisi- 
tions, with one hundred and six millions of Conti- 
nental dollars in circulation, at the beginning of 
1779, it was said that a wagon load of money 
would scarcely buy a wagon load of provisions. 
In April of that year the Continental dollar was 
worth five cents. At the end of the year it was 
worth less than two and a half cents. 

Then perhaps may have been heard for the first 
time the expression "Not worth a continental," 
profanely enlarged, when, pursuant to law, the 
Latin "Damnatus Est" was stamped on Continen- 
tal bills. The soldiers at the front saw clearly the 
difficulty, as soldiers ever do. They saw how value- 



90 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

less for government was a voluntary association of 
sovereign and uncontrollable communities, and 
among the ragged Continentals, as they shivered in 
their cantonments on the banks of the Hudson, the 
commonest toast, after the fashion of that day, 
was, "Here's a hoop to the barrel." 

The situation of the country was indeed a re- 
proach to the American character. Congress and 
particular States were appealing to France for 
loans when, man for man, the American people 
were richer than the subjects of the French king. 
The soldiers were starving. They had not been 
paid for five months. "Nothing prevented them 
from going to their homes," writes a contem- 
porary, "save the influence of the Commander-in- 
Chief, whom they almost adore." And of Wash- 
ington, General Greene wrote privately: "The 
great man is confounded at his situation and ap- 
pears to be reserved and silent. Should there be 
a want of provisions, we cannot hold together 
many days in the present temper of the army." 
Washington himself wrote : "Certain I am, unless 
Congress are invested with powers by the several 
States competent to the great purposes of war, or 
assume them as matter of right, and they and the 
States respectively act with more energy than they 
have hitherto done, our cause is lost. We can no 
longer drudge on in the old way. By ill-timing in 
the adoption of measures, we incur enormous ex- 
pense and derive no benefit from them. One State 
will comply with a requisition of Congress; an- 
other neglects to do it ; a third executes it by halves ; 
and all differ either in the manner, the matter, or 
so much in point of time, that we are always work- 
ing up hill. While such a system as the present 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 91 

one, or want of one, prevails, we shall ever be un- 
able to apply our strength or resources to any 
advantage." 

The chivalric LaFayette, writing home to his 
wife, declared : "No European army would suffer 
one-tenth part of what the American troops suffer. 
It takes citizens to support hunger, nakedness, toil, 
and a total want of pay which constitutes the con- 
dition of our soldiers, the most patient that are 
to be found in the world." 

These were the conditions when the Articles of 
Confederation which had been proposed in 1776 
were adopted by the last of the thirteen States. 
Our fathers now had a compact of thirteen truly 
sovereign States. It was termed "a perpetual 
union," but it was soon discovered to be a union 
only in name. It was otherwise termed "a firm 
league of friendship," but the attribute of firmness 
was illusory, and the friendship inconstant and 
deceptive. 

A contemporary writer in the American Muse- 
um, whose name I have not been able to ascertain, 
portrays with swift strokes this offspring of "State 
Sovereignty run mad." "By this social compact," 
he wrote, "the United States in Congress have ex- 
clusive power for the following purposes, with- 
out being able to execute any of them : They may 
make and conclude treaties, but can only recom- 
mend the observance of them. They may appoint 
ambassadors, but can not defray even the ex- 
pense of their tables. They may borrow money 
in their own name on the faith of the Union, but 
cannot pay a dollar. They may coin money, but 
they cannot purchase an ounce of bullion. They 
may make war, and determine what number of 



92 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

troops are necessary, but cannot raise a single sol- 
dier. In short, they may declare everything, but 
do nothing." 

Despite the debility and worthlessness of the Ar- 
ticles of Confederation, Washington, on the eighth 
anniversary of the Lexington fight, was enabled to 
announce to his brave but neglected army the im- 
mediate prospect of certain peace. This was de- 
clared on the 3d of September, 1785, and it is in- 
teresting to note that Great Britain refused to rec- 
ognize the independence of the United States, but 
in the treaty itself recognized the independence 
of each of the States, naming them. It may be 
that the British diplomats, with an eye to the fu- 
ture, recalled the fable in Aesop, in which we are 
told how the woodsman, who could not break the 
fagots when bound together, found it an easy task 
to break the separate twigs. This was indeed in 
consonance with the policy of the European pow- 
ers. Vergennes, the minister of our ally, the 
French king, had informed his representative in 
Philadelphia that the United States would never 
have real and respectable strength except by their 
unity. With sinister diplomacy, he continued: 
"But it is for themselves alone to make these re- 
flections. We have no right to present them for 
their consideration, and we have no interest what- 
ever to see America play the part of a power 
* * * Nothing can be more conformable to 
our political interest than separate acts by which 
each State shall ratify the treaties concluded with 
France." 

Despite the victory of our armies, at no period 
of our history did the future seem more hopeless. 
Afterwards Washington declared, "It was for a 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 93 

long time doubtful whether we were to survive as 
an independent republic, or decline from our Fed- 
eral dignity into insignificant withered fragments 
of empire." Thetruthof this declaration was patent 
at the time to every patriot. New Jersey had flatly 
refusedtopay her quota for the support of the Gov- 
ernment. Georgia was proceeding to open inde- 
pendent negotiations for a treaty with the Spanish 
governor at New Orleans. The individual States 
began to disintegrate. The people of the western 
portion of North Carolina, now Tennessee, and 
the border counties of Virginia west of the Blue 
Ridge began to organize the new State of Frank- 
land. About the same time one Daniel Shay, an 
ex-captain of the Continental Army, organized a 
rebellion in Massachusetts, which was strong 
enough to defy the officers of the law, and was 
not overawed until the militia of the State were 
called out. "What, gracious God, is man," ex- 
claimed Washington, "that there should be such 
inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct? 
It was but the other day that we were shedding our 
blood to obtain the constitutions under which we 
now live, constitutions of our own choice and mak- 
ing, and now we are unsheathing the sword to 
overturn them." The moral status of the country 
was as disheartening as its political condition. This 
period of practical separation between the States 
has been described by a gifted American writer of 
recent times as a season of "faction, jealousy and 
discord, infirmity of purpose, feebleness in action, 
unblushing dishonesty in finance, black ingratitude 
against the army, and the rapid acquisition of an 
ever-growing contempt on the part of the rest of 
mankind." 



94 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Then it was that Washington and his noble 
compatriots determined that the Union should be 
created. He knew that by those envious natures 
who "hate the excellence they cannot reach" he 
would be suspected of designing his own advance- 
ment, but the lofty soul of Washington could not 
be moved by unworthy considerations. Jefferson, 
Wythe, and Pendleton were engaged at this time 
in codifying the laws of his State, and to these 
great Virginians Washington wrote his sense of 
the country's opportunity and of its danger. "The 
present temper of the States," he declared, "is 
friendly to the establishment of a lasting Union; 
the moment should be improved; if suffered to 
pass away, it may fall a prey to our own follies 
and disputes." He continues, "It would give me 
great concern, should it be thought of me that I 
am desirous of enlarging the powers of Congress 
unnecessarily, as I declare to God my only aim is 
the general good." 

How the serene wisdom of this great man util- 
ized and directed the constructive genius and fer- 
vid energy of Hamilton, the clear-sighted and 
effective patriotism of Madison, the broad juridical 
learning of Jay, is familiar history. But so quietly 
was his commanding influence exerted, that he was 
termed the "silent watchman." Finally the con- 
vention was called for Annapolis for September 
17, 1786, but only twelve delegates assembled. 
No State south of Virginia and no State in New 
England sent delegates. In no wise disheartened, 
the friends of the Union called another convention 
to be held at Philadelphia on the 14th of the fol- 
lowing May. All was now activity. Hamilton 
issued a persuasive and eloquent address. The 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 95 

time for the convention was now at hand, and, 
writes a historian of those times, "When Virginia 
displayed the gilded roll of her delegates and 
showed the patriot commander at the head of the 
list, the whole country thrilled with joy." 

The chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation 
was Benjamin Franklin, of whom it was said that 
his defection from King George had given that 
monarch more concern than that of any other sub- 
ject; whose homely but charming philosophy had 
been as captivating to the beauties of the French 
court as to the savants of the Academy, and who, 
when more than eighty years of age, was declared 
to be "an ornament to human nature." Many of 
the older patriots of the Revolution were there. 
How it should thrill the true American, when he 
reflects that on motion of Benjamin Franklin, 
George Washington was called to the chair. 
There, too, sat Roger Sherman of Connecti- 
cut, the grandfather of those illustrious Amer- 
ican statesmen and jurists, George F. Hoar and 
William M. Evarts. There too was James Madi- 
son, who brought to the mighty task that untiring 
industry, exquisite discretion, and masterful power, 
which made him twice the President of the Union 
he was laboring to create. It is animating to the 
patriot to reflect that the longest lived of the Con- 
vention, surviving to those days when partisan 
rage sought to nullify the acts of Congress, his last 
message to his countrymen, bedewed with the tears 
of the aged statesman, besought obedience to the 
laws of the Union in whose formation he had taken 
an immortal part. There also was that marvelous 
young man, of whom Webster proclaimed: "He 
smote the rock of the national resources, and 



96 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He 
touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it 
sprung upon its feet. The fabled birth of Minerva 
from the brain of Jove was hardly more sudden 
or more perfect than that of the financial system 
of the United States from the conceptions of Alex- 
ander Hamilton." Indeed, there was scarcely a 
man there whose name is not enshrined in the 
memory of his State, and many whose fame will be 
coextensive with American history itself. Some of 
the members had joined in the indignant resolu- 
tions of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. Some had 
signed the fearless Declaration of Rights in 1774. 
Four had signed the Declaration of Independence 
eleven yearsbefore. Many were brilliant patriots of 
'76, who had proved their devotion to free gov- 
ernment by their heroism in the Continental line. 
Eighteen belonged to that greatest of all Revolu- 
tionary bodies, the Continental Congress. Two 
had become Presidents of that body. Seven had 
been or were Governors of States. Twenty-eight 
had been members of Congress. And of the Presi- 
dent, years thereafter, the father of our own Rob- 
ert Edward Lee first uttered the immortal senti- 
ment, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the 
hearts of his countrymen." 

Every clause of the great instrument was mi- 
nutely considered by them, deeply pondered, and 
debated with acumen and power. With such men 
divided opinions were inevitable. At one time it 
seemed that agreement was impossible. The dread 
of the changeful multitude threatened to paralyze 
all action, when Washington arose and uttered 
those memorable words which an eminent writer 
has declared "ought to be blazoned in letters of 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 97 

gold, and posted on the wall of every American 
assembly that shall meet to nominate a candidate, 
or declare a policy, or pass a law, so long as the 
weakness of human nature shall endure." "It is 
too probable," said the patriot sage, "that no plan 
we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another 
dreadful conflict is yet to be sustained. If to 
please the people we offer what we ourselves dis- 
approve, how can we afterwards defend our work. 
Let us raise a standard to which the wise and hon- 
est repair. The event is in the hand of God." 

At last the work was finished. The Father of 
his Country was the first to sign, and it is related 
that while the last members were appending their 
signatures to this Maxima Charta of human lib- 
erty, the venerable Franklin, looking toward the 
President's chair, upon the back of which was 
painted a half sun, remarked to those standing 
near him that painters found it difficult in their 
art to distinguish between a rising and a setting 
sun, and then with deep feeling he added: "Often 
and often in the course of this session and in the 
vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to the issue, 
I have looked at that behind the President with- 
out being able to tell whether it was rising or set- 
ting, but now I have the happiness to know it is a 
rising and not a setting sun." Oh, my country- 
men, what benign and prophetic truth was this! 
The Constitution was soon to be adopted by the 
people of the United States, with its preamble to 
the plan of our national salvation : "We, the peo- 
ple of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquillity, provide for the common defense, pro- 
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 



98 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain 
and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America." 

With what abounding fruition of individual hap- 
piness and national power have these lofty 
purposes been accomplished! The more perfect 
Union has endured for more than a century. From 
its flaming defences, the fierce assaults of foreign 
foes have recoiled in disaster and dismay. Its 
foundations, assailed by the telluric shocks of the 
mightiest of all revolutions, were found immov- 
able. Imperishable it stands; the rock of our 
safety and comfort; to the toiling millions, the 
sure defence, the life-giving shelter of freedom 
and of hope, — 

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, — 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 

And the Constitution has established justice. 
The citizens of every State have been afforded 
tribunals in every State where without regard to 
local prejudice their rights may be ascertained and 
enforced. In those courts the citizens of foreign 
lands have equal rights with our own people. They 
have jurisdiction to enforce personal rights and the 
rights accorded by treaty. Every salutary principle 
of Magna Charta, every safeguard of liberty 
achieved by the English-speaking race, as "free- 
dom broadens slowly down from precedent to 
precedent," is by the Constitution impregnably es- 
tablished in the jurisprudence of our country. Jus- 
tice is established even against the action of the 
States, aye and of the United States. However 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 99 

furious may be the local outcry, no State can pass 
any law violating the obligations of a contract, or 
by suspending remedies delay the creditor in the 
just assertion of his claim. Nor may a debt be 
discharged at the will of the debtor, or by the 
misguided action of a State, in depreciated cur- 
rency. The money of the Union is essential for 
the discharge of every obligation, and the money 
of the Union is good the world around. 

And in our country alone are the principles of 
constitutional justice established as superior to the 
expressed will of sovereignty itself. The highest 
court in England may not impugn the effectiveness 
and force of an act of Parliament, however abhor- 
rent it may be to liberty and right; but neither 
the government of a State, nor of the United 
States, even by unanimous vote and with the ap- 
proval of the Executive, can deprive the hum- 
blest citizen of the land of a constitutional 
right secured to him by that Union, which alone 
among the governments of the earth, in the lan- 
guage of a great American jurist, "extends the 
judicial protection of personal rights not only 
against the rulers of the people, but against the 
representatives of the people." And it has es- 
tablished justice for the soldiers and sailors of the 
Republic. Never to the patriot, however humble, 
who on the fiery crest of battle has braved the 
death hail in defence of the flag, shall come the 
hovel of the pauper, and the potter's field. 

And ourUnion has insured domestic tranquillity. 
One soldier is found sufficient to maintain the tran- 
quillity of twenty-eight hundred American citizens, 
with abundant leisure to look after the Indian 
tribes and perform all of the ornamental functions 



ioo ULYSSES S. GRANT 

obligatory upon the brave defenders of our coun- 
try. 

And need I argue in the presence of recent 
events that the Constitution of the Union is ample 
to provide for the common defence? Now, while 
the world is astounded at the gigantic forces which 
our country is wielding by day and by night in a 
thousand arsenals, ship yards, forges, factories, 
and foundries, to maintain unsullied the honor of 
the stars and stripes. Now, while the pictured dome 
of the Capitol is ringing with the acclamations of 
our representatives as they vote millions for the 
common defence. The colossal military power of 
this country is beyond estimation. It does not re- 
side alone in those majestic squadrons, "still as 
the breeze and awful as the storm," which patrol 
the coast or ride at anchor on the tepid wave of 
the tropics, nor in the Regular Army, gallant and 
skilful as it is, but in the stalwart arms and brave 
hearts of twelve millions of American freemen, 
men of that imperial race who have on a thousand 
fields demonstrated that, in defence of his coun- 
try, the citizen soldier of America has been rarely 
equalled and never surpassed. 

The Constitution has promoted the general wel- 
fare. Our country extends from the coral islands 
of Florida, tempered by the Gulf Stream, that 
"wandering summer of the seas," to the hyper- 
borean shores of Alaska, a half degree of longi- 
tude to the westward of Hawaii, and within a mile 
and a half of the dominion of the Czar. It has 
been compacted into a homogeneous people of 
seventy millions, animated by a common patriot- 
ism, jealous of the national honor, thrilling with 
the consciousness of our country's glory, and with 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 101 

devotion to our country's flag. In all that imperial 
domain there is no element of power which may 
not be exerted for the protection of the whole peo- 
ple or of any part against a foreign foe. The 
revenues from the most opulent are applied with- 
out question to the defence of the poorest commu- 
nity. The genius, military or civic, the experience, 
the learning of the foremost man in any State is 
available for the people of all the Union. The in- 
terests of every State, whether they may involve 
the fur traffic of the Northwest, the fisheries of 
New England, the cattle of Texas, or the fruits 
of Florida, are considered and protected by suit- 
able laws and treaties made by the best statesman- 
ship of the entire nation. The commerce of the 
States, with each other and with foreign countries, 
is regulated by the concentrated intelligence and 
wisdom of all. The welfare of no American State 
is at the mercy of a neighboring State. There is 
no custom-house on any interior boundary of the 
forty-five American States. From degradation 
and repudiation, the credit of the United States, 
on the adoption of the Constitution, sprang in an 
instant to the highest plane of solvency and repute. 
Sturdy immigrants by hundreds, thousands, mil- 
lions, hastened to enjoy the blessings of a land of 
liberty, equality, and law. The savage wilderness 
was speedily converted into sweet fields arrayed 
in the living green of grain, and Indian corn, or the 
snowy luxuriance of cotton. Great cities like St. 
Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville and Minneapolis, and 
your own incalculable Chicago, arose as if they 
were the creations of the genii of Aladdin's lamp 
and ring. Nor was this development simply ag- 
ricultural or numerical. The mechanical arts have 



102 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

been cultivated with unprecedented aptitude. It 
has been declared by the London Times that "the 
New Englander is an inventive animal; his brain 
has a bias that way. He mechanizes as the old 
Greeks sculptured, as the Romans legislated^ as 
the Venetians painted, and the modern Italian 
sings. American inventive genius has developed 
more that is new and practical than all Europe 
combined." 

This admission of the "Thunderer" is true. 
The grain crops on the pampas of the Argentine 
Republic, the steppes of Russia, and the valley of 
the Nile are harvested with the reaping machines 
of McCormick, and McCormick is an American 
inventor. The London Times itself is printed on 
the lightning press of Richard Hoe, and Hoe is 
an American inventor. The incandescent lights 
of Edison shed their brilliant lustre on the dome of 
St. Paul's, the facade of the Acropolis, the pilasters 
of the Pantheon and the minarets of St. Sophia. 
The whole continent of Europe is a network of 
telegraph lines, and "electricity," said the philos- 
opher Faraday, "is Franklin's"; and to the inven- 
tive genius of Samuel Findlay Morse and the enter- 
prise of Cyrus W. Field, Americans both, the world 
is indebted for its practical application to teleg- 
raphy. I trust that I am honored by the presence 
of some venerable patriot who under the Consti- 
tution has enjoyed the blessings of liberty for three 
score years and ten, and if such an one is here, he 
may reflect that in his time American railways 
have grown from not a mile to one hundred and 
eighty-five thousand miles, from not one ton of 
freight to an annual transportation of seven hun- 
dred millions of tons, from not one passenger to 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 103 

five hundred millions of passengers annually, from 
not a dollar of capital to ten thousand million dol- 
lars of capital, so that the most inaccessible can be 
reached from the most distant station, in our three 
million square miles, more rapidly than Washing- 
ton could have journeyed from the shores of the 
Potomac to the banks of the Hudson. Phenom- 
enal as is our material development, the cultiva- 
tion of the mind has surpassed it. Nowhere has 
such liberal provision been made for popular edu- 
cation, either by public taxation or by the contribu- 
tions of philanthropists, such as Stephen Girard, 
John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford, Asa 
Packer, Johns Hopkins, Paul Tulane, James Ritch, 
James G. Clark, Cornelius Vanderbilt, James 
Lick, A. J. Drexel, Peter Cooper and Ezra Cor- 
nell. And to George Peabody we should not omit 
to ascribe the honor of having done the greatest 
good to the greatest number of beneficiaries. In 
hundreds of schools of our once desolate South his 
name 

"Is as the precious ointment shed 
On consecrated Aaron's head." 

There are more colleges in the United States 
where a respectable academical education may be 
obtained than in any nation of the earth, not ex- 
cepting Germany, with its universities, polytechnic 
institutions, and five hundred gymnasia. Nor have 
the efforts of the American people to obtain edu- 
cation been fruitless. Many Americans of broad- 
est enlightenment and widest renown sprung from 
homes of poverty where learning was unknown. 
The father of Abraham Lincoln could not read 
until he was taught by his second wife, and the 



io 4 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

fame of the son will be mentioned by nations yet 
unborn in accents yet unknown. 

An English satirist once asked, "Who reads an 
American book ?" We may now reply that Ameri- 
can books in every department of literature and 
science are favorites in the libraries of the world. 
Our historians like Bancroft, Prescott, and Mot- 
ley; our poets like Whittier, Longfellow, and 
Bryant; our novelists like Irving, Cooper, and 
Hawthorne; our lexicographers like Webster and 
Joseph Emerson Worcester have captivated, 
charmed, and instructed mankind the world 
around. An American woman wrote a book in 
1852, of which four stereotyped editions of four 
hundred thousand copies were sold in Boston, and 
a London publisher, we are told, had to employ a 
thousand printers to furnish volumes sufficient 
to meet the demand. Nay, more, a book by an 
American author in a simple style, lucid and fas- 
cinating, rivalling that of Davilla or of Thucy- 
dides, has obtained a sale greater than that of any 
other work by any other writer, living or dead, a 
book written with heroic constancy, while its au- 
thor in every moment of its creation was suffer- 
ing the anguish of approaching dissolution. To 
the nobility of soul and the military genius of that 
author, our Union owes its power to fulfil that 
other and greatest purpose of the Constitution, 
"to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
to our posterity." I need not say that I mean the 
"Personal Memoirs" of Ulysses S. Grant. 

For the life of a mighty nation, thus conceived 
by the patriots and sages of the Revolution, and 
nurtured by the providence of God, this American 
fought. It was for this at Shiloh, with the river 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 105 

at the back of his torn and bleeding battalions, he 
scorned the thought of retreat. It was for this 
at Vicksburg he braved the miasma of the swamp 
and the roar of the crevasse, until the levees along 
the river were but cities of the dead. For this he 
dared to cross the turbid flood of the Mississippi, 
and, like Caesar at the siege of Alesia, interposed 
his command between two armies. For this he 
stormed the face of Missionary Ridge. For this 
he led the massy column of his brave soldiery into 
the gloomy shades of the Wilderness, and entered 
upon the year of battles, when the rifles were never 
voiceless andthe dread artillery was scarcely hushed. 
To this silent man, who in his youth and simple 
young manhood had been evolving powers of 
which he himself was not aware, was accorded in 
the second year of his leadership the grandest 
military command under government the world 
has ever known. That his armies were tremendous 
is true, but other generals trained like him, with 
equal opportunities, had equal armies, and they 
had all failed, even as the sons of the ancient He- 
brews passed before the Prophet of God; and 
Samuel said, "The Lord hath not chosen thee.' , 
But when David came, the Lord saith, "Arise, 
anoint him, for this is he." And had Grant not foe- 
men worthy of his steel? Who so ready as he to 
record his lofty estimate of their constancy and 
their valor? The sincerity of their conviction he did 
not question. Here in his imperial state, where the 
nobility of your manhood has given "bond in stone 
and everduring brass to guard and to immortalize" 
the ashes of the Confederate dead; here where 
lived your great commander who in his last re- 
corded words declared that they deemed their 



106 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

principles dearer than life itself, it needs not that 
I should laud the manhood or defend the sincerity 
of Southern men. No affront would he permit, 
when they stacked their arms, to the worn and 
wasted but heroic veterans of Lee. The Great 
Commander was in battle their sternest foe, 
their gentlest victor in defeat. "They are 
our countrymen now," he said to his gallant sol- 
diers before the last wreath of smoke had floated 
away from the firing-lines at Appomattox. How 
he kept his soldierly word to General Robert Ed- 
ward Lee when the parole of that great soldier 
was threatened will forever endear his memory 
to Southern men. We are brethren now, shoulder 
to shoulder under the glory-bright ensign of our 
common country, and I thank God that, with the 
clear vision of the dying, the noble patriot whom 
we commemorate to-day lived to see this truth. 
In simple phrase and with infinite pathos he wrote : 
"I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when 
there is to be great harmony between the Federals 
and the Confederates. I cannot stay to be a living 
witness to the correctness of this prophecy, but I 
feel it within me that it is to be so. The universal 
kind feeling expressed for me at a time when it was 
supposed that each day would prove my last 
seemed to me the beginning of the answer to 'Let 
us have peace.' " 

With such emotions in his heart this great Amer- 
ican died. And, my countrymen, his prophetic 
words were true. Now, in our country's need, we 
are a reunited people. His magnanimity to South- 
ern people, his soldierly honor to his great adver- 
sary have found their reward in the devotion to his 
country of that other Lee, who amid the curses 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 107 

and the treachery of the stealthy Spaniards, the 
pestilence among their victims, and the cruel mas- 
sacre of our sleeping sailors, with consummate 
courage and manliness has maintained the honor 
of the Stars and Stripes. And here and now, in 
the gracious presence of the daughter of General 
Grant, I have her glad permission to announce to 
the people of their childhood home, that this day 
her son, the grandson of the hero Chieftain of the 
Union, has taken service as the officer and com- 
rade of General Fitzhugh Lee, the nephew of Rob- 
ert Edward Lee, the hero Chieftain of the South- 
ern cause. 

Far to the South, in the State of my birth and my 
love, in a park in beautiful Savannah, where soft 
winds from the Atlantic rustle the palms, swing 
the silver censers of the acacia, and disperse the 
fragrance of the magnolia and the rose, noble men 
and gentle women have reared a monument to the 
Confederate dead. On its face, taken from the 
grand poetry of Scripture, are these words: 

"Come from the four winds, O breath, 
And breathe upon these slain that they may live." 

The prayer has been granted. They live, O, my 
countrymen. They live in millions of their gallant 
sons and kinsmen. They live and move and have 
their being as Americans because of the generosity 
of Grant, and the magnanimity of the country he 
loved and served. And now in this day of our 
country's need, under the Flag of our Fathers, 
"with not a star erased and not a stripe polluted," 
in even line with the veterans of the Union, and 
the noble manhood of the North, the ground shak- 
ing with their measured tread, the cries of the ene- 



108 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

my drowned by the rebel yell, clearing the way 
with their flaming volleys, they will bear down 
upon our country's foe. Now the truth will be seen 
of all men, that the Union which Washington fos- 
tered, and Grant did so much to save, will be in- 
deed perpetual, the greatest citadel of civil and 
religious liberty on earth, a glory to the most high 
God, and a blessing to humanity in all the years to 
come. 

On the day of this address the first shot of the Spanish- 
American War was fired at Matanzas and the Galena Company 
of the Illinois National Guard was entraining for the front. 




FACING PAGE 109 



JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE.* 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society: 

The Sons of the Revolution have proud mem- 
ories and a prouder mission. It is their purpose 
and duty to create, or maintain, a lively sense of the 
country's glory, a just pride in the achievements 
of its great men, and a fixed resolution in the 
minds of the people, and particularly the young — 
to advance the one by emulating the other. Of 
homogeneous blood, animated by sentiments in- 
spired by the generous valor, the self-sacrificial 
patriotism, the meritorious services of those from 
whom we spring, we are inevitably devoted to the 
revival and advancement of genuine Americanism. 
That the time is opportune for the best and the 
most constant efforts of every member of this, and 
every kindred society, indeed, for the co-operation 
of every American citizen to this end may not be 
doubted. The work is educative. We point to the 
heroic men of the past as exemplars commanding 
the admiration, and worthy of the rivalry of our 
Country's patriotic youth. The monuments which 
adorn the streets and squares of this city are silent, 
but eloquent, testimonials to that enduring influ- 
ence which the memories of the great exert upon 
the efforts and character of a people. They are 
equally eloquent of the ennobling patriotism of a 



♦Address at the Annual Banquet of the Georgia Society Sons 
of the Revolution, at Savannah, on the evening of the 5th day 
of February, 1894. 

109 



no JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

generous community. But, sir, there is here a 
vacant square, and to-night, at the suggestion of 
the honored President of our Society, I come to 
urge with all sincerity and all the ardor of my na- 
ture, that it is fitting, aye, it is demanded that the 
Sons of the Revolution and their friends should 
undertake the erection there of an enduring monu- 
ment commemorative of the public virtue of that 
ranking general of the British Army who rejected 
the command of the forces sent for the subjugation 
of the American Colonies, comrade in arms of 
Marlborough and Eugene, compatriot of Chat- 
ham, friend of Berkeley, patron of Wesley, inti- 
mate of Johnson and Goldsmith, of Reynolds and 
Burke ; James Edward Oglethorpe, who ''driven by 
strong benevolence of soul" became the immortal 
founder of the city of Savannah and of the State 
of Georgia. 

This illustrious man was the youngest son of Sir 
Theophilus Oglethorpe, of Godalming, in the 
County of Surry. His mother was Eleanor, daugh- 
ter of Richard Wall, Esq., of Rogane, in Ireland. 
He was born on the 21st day of December, the 
year of the British Revolution, 1688. His parents 
were intensely Jacobite in politics, and so closely 
intimate with James the Second, that after the 
death of Sir Theophilus, Mrs. F. Shaftoe attempt- 
ed to prove that the Pretender, who many good 
Protestants believed was furtively conveyed in a 
warming pan to the Palace of St. James to become 
the heir apparent of the Stuarts, was in reality the 
child of Sir Theophilus and Lady Oglethorpe.* 

Sir Theophilus, then Colonel Oglethorpe, com- 



*Life of the Duke of Marlborough, by Field Marshal Vis- 
count Wolseley, K. P. 1st vol., p. 322. 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE in 

manded the Royal Horse against the Duke of 
Monmouth at the bloody battle of Sedgemoor, 
where Lord Wolseley describes him as "careering 
uselessly over the country in search of the Rebel 
army." 

The mother of General Oglethorpe Dean Swift 
describes as a "cunning devil," and Mrs. Shaftoe 
writes, "Let times go how it would, she could al- 
ways make friends," and with more malevolence 
describes her as "whining upon the countrymen's 
wives with many whining ways to get the women to 
get their husbands to give their votes to Sir The- 
ophilus Oglethorpe to be a member of Parliament, 
which they did." 

At sixteen years of age the young Oglethorpe 
was a member of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 
but he was not long to frequent with the Muses the 
classic shades along the Isis. In a little more than 
a year the Great Duke of Marlborough, whose oc- 
cupation in those great days was to "beat the 
Frenchmen through and through," wrote to Ogle- 
thorpe's mother to offer the youth a commission in 
the Guards. At this time it was popularly sung 
in all England: 

"Malbrouk, the prince of commanders, 
Is gone to the war in Flanders ; 
His fame is like Alexander's; 
But when will he come home?" 

More than a hundred years afterwards, when 
Napoleon, at the head of the Imperial Guard, was 
crossing the Niemen to enter on the fatal Russian 
campaign, he was humming the same air. It was 
the period of England's greatest military glory. 
These were the days of Blenheim, of Ramillies, of 
Malplaquet, of Oudenarde, and the founder of 



ii2 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

Georgia was soon brilliantly conspicuous among 
the veterans of Marlborough who won those fa- 
mous fields. His fine figure, soldierly deportment, 
and intrepid courage soon attracted the notice of 
"Corporal John," and through the influence of the 
commander-in-chief and of the Duke of Argyle, he 
became the FirstSecretary, and afterwards the aide 
de camp of Prince Eugene. Of this great soldier 
Carlyle writes, "He was a bright little soul, with a 
flash in him as of heaven's own lightning." In one 
of his notes to an edition of Pope's writings Dr. 
Wharton declares that Prince Eugene always spoke 
of Oglethorpe in the highest terms. Belonging to 
the military family of this renowned general, the 
young officer took part in several successive cam- 
paigns against the enormous armies of the Turks. 
He not only acquired a skilful mastery of the pro- 
fession of arms, but won the official acknowledg- 
ments of his Serene Highness, the most famous 
general of that warlike house whose descendants, 
with the proud declaration "Savoy cannot retreat," 
threw off foreign rule, and in this day are of the 
royal family of Italy. 

At the battle of Peterwaradin, fought on the 5th 
of August, 17 16, at the siege of Temeswaer, which 
capitulated after desperate resistance on the 4th of 
October of the same year, and at the even more 
famous siege of Belgrade, in the following year, 
and in other engagements, Oglethorpe won much 
renown. Belgrade was declared to be "a place of 
the last importance to the Imperialists and to the 
Turks; the bridle of all the adjoining country; the 
glorious trophy of the valor and conduct of his 
Serene Highness, Prince Eugene, and the bulwark, 
not of Germany only, but of all Christendom 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 113 

on this side." Fifty-five years later, and after 
Oglethorpe's fightings were all over, Boswell and 
Dr. Johnson dined with him at his London home. 
During the repast Dr. Johnson said, "Pray, Gen- 
eral, give us an account of the siege of Belgrade," 
upon which the General, pouring a little wine upon 
the table, described everything with a wet finger; 
"here we were, here were the Turks," etc. The 
conversation had turned on duelling, and Boswell 
had started the question whether it was consistent 
with moral duty. The brave old General, recounts 
the biographer, fired at this, and said with a lofty 
air, "L'ndoubtedly a man has a right to defend his 
honor." "The General told us," writes Boswell, 
"that when he was a very young man, I think only 
fifteen, serving under Prince Eugene of Savoy, he 
was sitting in company at table with the Prince of 
Wurtemberg. The Prince took up a glass of wine, 
and by a fillip made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's 
face. Here was a nice dilemma. To have challenged 
him instantly might have fixed a quarrelsome 
character upon the young soldier; to have taken no 
notice of it might have been considered as coward- 
ice. Oglethorpe, therefore, keeping his eye upon 
the Prince and smiling all the time, as if he took 
what his Highness had done in jest, said, 'Mon 
Prince' (I forget the French words he used; the 
purport, however, was), 'that's a good joke; but 
we do it much better in England,' and threw a 
whole glass of wine in the Prince's face. An old 
general who sat by said, 'II a bien fait, mon Prince, 
vous l'avez commence.' " 

Peace having ensued after the fall of Belgrade, 
Oglethorpe was offered military rank in the Ger- 
man service, but concluding "that the profession of 



ii 4 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

a soldier in time of peace offered few opportunities 
for promotion, and none for distinction," he re- 
turned to England, and in the year 1722, succeed- 
ing, because of the death of his brother Lewis, to 
the inheritance of the family estate at Godalming, 
for thirty-two years he was successively returned to 
Parliament as a member for Haselmere. His par- 
liamentary career was marked by energy. He 
spoke often and freely. He was never the tool of 
party, and always acted with intelligence and in- 
dependence. He proposed and prompted many 
practical regulations for the benefit of trade. Of 
his remarks on the King's speech, made on the 12th 
of January, 173 1, Smollett, in his History of Eng- 
land, recounts, "Mr. Oglethorpe, a gentleman of 
unblemished character, brave, generous, and hu- 
mane, affirmed that many other things related more 
immediately to the honor and interest of the nation 
than did the guarantee of the pragmatic sanction," 
etc. It is interesting to observe that on a bill for 
encouraging the trade of the British sugar colo- 
nies, Oglethorpe gave expression to those enlarged 
and liberal views of colonial rights the disregard 
of which some forty years later brought on the 
American Revolution. 

"In all cases," said he, "that come' before this 
House, where there seems a clashing of interests, 
we ought to have no exclusive regard to the par- 
ticular interest of any one country or set of people, 
but to the good of the whole. Our colonies are a 
part of our dominions. The people in them are 
our own people; and we ought to show an equal 
respect to all. If it should appear that our Plan- 
tations upon the continent of America are against 
that which is desired by the sugar colonies, we are 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 115 

to presume that the granting thereof will be a 
prejudice to the trade or particular interests of our 
continental settlements. And, surely, the danger 
of hurting so considerable a part of our domin- 
ions, — a part which reaches from the 34th to the 
46th degree of north latitude, — will, at least, in- 
cline us to be extremely cautious in what we are 
going about. If, therefore, it shall appear that the 
relieving our sugar colonies will do more harm 
to the other parts of our dominions, than it can do 
good to them, we must refuse it, and think of some 
other method of putting them upon an equal foot- 
ing with their rivals in any part of trade." 

Notwithstanding the varied and valuable serv- 
ices of his long parliamentary career, none of these 
will compare in its importance with that inquiry he 
instituted into the state of the jails in London, and 
particularly into the condition of those unfortu- 
nates who were held as prisoners for debt. His 
friend, Robert Castell, scholar and author, not- 
withstanding he had never had that distemper, was 
forced by an infamous tipstaff into a cell where the 
small-pox was raging. He died, leaving a large 
family of small children in distress. Stung and 
smitten with the outrage, "Oglethorpe resolved," 
said one of his biographers, "to leave the world 
at his own death a little purified of ancient crime 
and folly." He immediately brought the subject 
to the attention of the House of Commons, and he 
was made chairman of the committee to investi- 
gate the debtors' prisons. Three separate reports 
show how thoroughly and fearlessly this work was 
performed, and they show too the atrocities prac- 
ticed in that day and time on the unfortunate. The 



n6 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

humanity of Oglethorpe inspired and merited the 
fine passage in Thompson's "Seasons" : 

"And here, can I forget the generous band 
Who touched with human woe, redressive searched 
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail? 
Unpitied and unheard, where misery moans ; 
Where sickness pines ; where thirst and hunger burn, 
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice." 

Nor was the strong benevolence of the soul of 
the Founder of Georgia exhausted with this in- 
quiry. He began to discuss and urge measures for 
the amelioration of the debtor class. By attractive 
and repeated statements he brought before the pub- 
lic the advantages of the American colonies as 
homes for these unfortunates. In 17 17 the Pro- 
prietors of Carolina had made to one Sir Robert 
Montgomery, a Scottish baronet, a grant of all the 
lands lying between the Savannah and the Al- 
tamaha. It is probable that this noble son of Cale- 
donia did not fully appreciate the magnificence of 
the grant, with which he proposed to form what he 
termed the "Margravate of Azalia" of which he 
and his descendants were to be the perpetual Mar- 
graves. He, however, declared it to be "the most 
amiable country of the universe." "Nature," he 
said, "has not blessed the world with any tract 
which can be preferable to it ; paradise, with all her 
virgin beauties, may be modestly supposed at most 
but equal to its native excellencies. It lies in the 
same latitude with Palestine itself, that promised 
Canaan which was pointed out by God's own choice 
to bless the labors of a favorite people." Happily, 
perhaps, for the sturdy yeomanry who now dwell 
in the territory of this "Margravate," Sir Robert's 
grant expired by its own conditions. 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 117 

In 1720 King George the First had caused a fort 
to be constructed at the mouth of the Altamaha. 
It was of no use, and was burned in 1729. About 
that time a Swiss, one Colonel Purry, settled with 
a colony of six hundred of his countrymen on the 
left bank of the Savannah, at a place called Purrys- 
burg. It is hard to realize that St. Augustine, the 
stronghold of the Spanish dominion in North 
America, had even then been in existence one hun- 
dred and sixty-four years, and that the gold-loving 
Spaniards had been working mines of the precious 
metal in that enchanting country of North Georgia 
where the Chattahoochee rushes "down from the 
hills of Habersham, and out of the valleys of 
Hall." In the epigrammatic language of Macau- 
lay, "The American dependencies of the Castilian 
crown still extended far to the North of Cancer, 
and far to the South of Capricorn." The fancy of 
Goldsmith has depicted in the "Deserted Village" 
the wilderness dangers with which nature had en- 
countered the Georgia colonists : 

"Those matted woods where birds forget to sing, 
But silent bats in drowsy clusters cling; 
Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crown'd, 
Where the dark scorpion gathers death around ; 
Where at each step the stranger fears to wake 
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake: 
W T here crouching tigers wait their hapless prey, 
And savage men more murderous still than they; 
While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies, 
Mingling the ravag'd landscape with the skies." 

But neither the bats, nor the scorpions, nor the 
snakes, nor the tigers, nor the tornadoes, offered to 
the colonists the cruel danger, and constant alarm, 
occasioned by the unspeakable Spaniard. Menen- 
dez had cruelly put to death French settlers on the 



n8 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

St. John's, and affixed to their dead bodies the 
placard, "I do this not as to Frenchmen, but as to 
Lutherans." The spot is still called "Matanzas," 
which imports the massacre. Many a "Matan- 
zas" is there in the American dominions once held 
by Spain. The daring Jean Ribault in turn hung 
the Spaniards. "I do this," he said in the placard 
affixed to the bodies of his victims, "not as to Span- 
iards, but as to murderers and assassins." "The 
presence of the Spaniard in Florida," writes a bi- 
ographer of Oglethorpe, "was an intolerable thorn 
in the side of the South Carolina planter. There 
seemed to be no bounds to his insolence. He was 
always stirring up slaves to rebel; he enticed them 
over to Florida by the thousands, and there formed 
them into negro regiments, treating them well. He 
tampered with the Indian tribes. He claimed all 
the country as far north as the Savannah and be- 
yond. The English, on the other hand, claimed all 
the country at least as far as the St. John's. Thus 
it was that a little more than the whole of the pres- 
ent State of Georgia was in dispute." To this en- 
vironment, his standard emblazoned with the 
proud legend, u non sibi sed aliis," "not for our- 
selves, but for others," did Oglethorpe come with 
the ancestors of men who are now in the sound of 
my voice. His was to be a military colony. In- 
deed, as soon as the colonists had been accepted in 
England, they were formed into little brigades, 
and were drilled daily by sergeants from the Royal 
Guard — an hereditary explanation for the military 
spirit which to this day pervades this warlike com- 
munity. How the settlers came over on the Ann 
galley, how it was loaded with arms and munitions 
of war, with carpenters, bricklayers, farmers, and 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 119 

seeds of all description, not forgetting ten tuns of 
Alderman Parson's best beer; how the navigator 
steered far to the southward by way of Madeira 
to take in five tuns of wine, which they did, and 
how cordially the colonists were welcomed by the 
South Carolinians; how the noble Tomochichi has- 
tened from Yamacraw to welcome the great man, 
who was to become for the rest of his life his best 
and most valuable friend; how, in short, the prov- 
ince of Georgia grew to be a buffer State between 
the Carolinians and the Spaniards, is familiar to 
us all. The advent of Oglethorpe, and his bene- 
ficiaries, was to prove most comforting to the Car- 
olinians. A London rhymer of the day expressed 
this pleasant and poetical forecast: 

'To Carolina be a Georgia joined: 
Then shall both colonies sure progress make, 
Endeared to either for the other's sake ; 
Georgia shall Carolina's favor move, 
And Carolina bloom by Georgia's love." 

Certain generous Carolinians came over with 
their slaves and did yeomen service for the comfort 
and settlement of Oglethorpe's company. One of 
these was a Mr. Saint Julian, whose name is yet 
borne by a street in Savannah. Boston has its 
"Milk" Street, the evolution of the path once at 
morn and eve traversed by the "milky mothers" 
of its herd. A noble thoroughfare in Savannah is 
termed "Bull." The taurine appellation is not, as 
the uninformed might deem, ascribable to the fact 
that the stately patriarch of Oglethorpe's herd may 
there have ambled forth in search of food and 
strange adventure. The veracities of history impel 
us to record that it was named in honor of a Dr. 
Bull, a generous Carolina friend. Through all the 
early development of the colony Oglethorpe was 



120 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

the guide, philosopher, and friend of every colo- 
nist. His rude court-house occupied the precise 
site in the city of the United States court-house 
and post-office of this day. But the General had no 
house of his own. The hardy soldier dwelt in a 
tent under four pines then standing near the pres- 
ent City Hall. Afterward he charmed the High- 
landers, who had settled at Darien, by wearing 
their costume, and sleeping in his plaid on the 
ground with them. Nearly a half century later 
Boswell and Dr. Johnson dined with him in Lon- 
don. "The General," said Boswell, "declaimed 
against luxury." Johnson. — "Depend upon it, sir, 
every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. 
Men always take the best they can get." Ogle- 
thorpe. — "But the best depends much upon our- 
selves; if we can be as well satisfied with plain 
things, we are in the wrong to accustom our pal- 
ates to what is high-seasoned and expensive. What 
says Addison in his 'Cato,' speaking of the Nu- 
midian? 

" 'Coarse are his meals, the fortune of the chase, 
Amid the running stream he slakes his thirst, 
Toils all the day, and at the approach of night, 
On the first friendly bank he throws him down, 
Or rests his head upon a rock till morn ; 
And if the following day he chance to find 
A new repast, or an untasted spring, 
Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.' 

Let us have that kind of luxury, sir, if you will." 
Oglethorpe believed in what we term "The simple 
life." 

He returned to England, taking with him Tomo- 
chichi, Senauki, his wife, Toonakowski, their son, 
Hillispilli, the war captain, and other noted war- 
riors. It soon became his duty to return to Savan- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 121 

nah, and with him came a large addition to the 
colonists, and two young men, whose names and 
whose work in another vocation will be as enduring 
as his. They were John and Charles Wesley, who 
were coming out as missionaries. "These are no 
tithe-pig parsons," said Oglethorpe to some of the 
gentlemen on board, who attempted to take liber- 
ties with the missionaries. 

Another most valuable acquisition to the colony 
had been the Salzburgers. These interesting peo- 
ple had belonged to the Archbishopric of Salzburg, 
then the most eastern district of Bavaria. For 
many years they had been the object of most cruel 
persecution for conscience sake. They had been 
subjected to tortures of the most revolting kind. 
In 1 620 the head of one of their pastors was nailed 
to his pulpit. In 1732 they were living on the 
northern slope of the Tyrol. "Their country," 
said Carlyle, "is celebrated for its airy beauty, 
rocky mountains, smooth, green valleys and swift, 
rushing streams." Salzburg is the archbishop city, 
and the Archbishop was one Firmian, "by secular 
qualities," said the same writer, "of the strict, lean 
character, sullen rather than wise, who had 
brought the orthodoxies with him in a rigid and 
very lean form." This Firmian demanded that the 
Salzburgers should give up their Bibles, but "doff- 
ing their slouch hats," writes Carlyle, "almost to 
mankind in general, they were entirely obstinate as 
to that matter of the Bible. 'Cannot, Your Rever- 
ence, must not, dare not,' and went to prison, and 
whithersoever ordered." And thus these poor 
people, than whom more harmless sons of Adam 
did not breathe the vital air, were driven from 
their homes. Within the hill of Salzburg, the Ger- 



122 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

man legend hath it, and the simple German folk 
believe, sits the greatest Kaiser time has ever 
known, — Friedrich Barbarossa, — sits there at a 
marble table, with his elbow thereon, not dead, but 
only sleeping — indeed "sits winking," the peasants 
believe, only half sleeping — though his white beard 
streams down on the floor; and when his people 
are suffering wrong, and are driven devilward, the 
old Kaiser will arise, will set his shield aloft and 
his lance at rest, and on Roncalic fields again raise 
the shout of battle, and charge down on the ene- 
mies of the people he once ruled and loved. Woe 
to thee, lean Firmian, and thy law terriers, mon- 
grels, whelps, and curs of low degree, had the 
good king Barbarossa had his slumbers broken by 
the cries of the ousted Salzburgers, the hoary old 
men, the women and the children, who in the rigor 
of winter were driven from their homes. But they 
were not unfriended. Vast numbers were carried 
to other portions of North Germany, and treated 
by the Prussian King, father of the great Fred- 
erick, with the utmost kindness. One of his noble- 
men, this rugged son of Thor hung offhand for 
cheating these poor exiles. "Come, ye poor Salz- 
burgers, there are homes provided for you," his 
proclamation ran. By an earnest speech in the 
House of Commons Oglethorpe had offered them 
an asylum in Georgia. It turned out that forty- 
two of them, with their families, embarked upon 
the Main, sailed down the beautiful Rhine, reached 
Rotterdam, thence across the Channel to Dover, 
where they embarked on their long voyage to that 
new land beyond the broad Atlantic, where each 
man could worship God according to the dictates 
of his own conscience. Sermons they heard on the 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 123 

text, "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or 
brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mother, or wife, 
or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall re- 
ceive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting 
life." And on another text, "Now the Lord hath 
said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, 
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, 
unto a land that I will show thee." "Excellent 
texts," wrote Carlyle, "well handled, let us hope- 
especially with brevity." Oglethorpe met them in 
Charleston, and took them to Savannah. As the 
vessel was moored near the landing-place, the in- 
habitants flocked down to the bank, and^ raised a 
cheering shout, which was responded with much 
gladness by the passengers on deck. Some of them 
were soon taken off in a boat, and led around to 
the town, part through the wood, and part through 
the newly laid out garden of the Trustees. "Mean- 
while, a right good feast was prepared for them, 
and they were regaled with very fine, wholesome 
English beer, and as otherwise much love and 
friendliness was shown them by the inhabitants, 
and as the beautiful situation round about pleased 
them, they were in fine spirits, and their joy was 
consecrated by praise to God." 

Their noble benefactor soon took them to their 
new home up the river. They named it "Ebe- 
nezer." How deep might have been their pious 
response to the inspiration of the old hymn, the 
melody of which yet rolls away in song worship, 
from the simple country churches and camp meet- 
ings, through the aisles of Georgia forests: 

"Here I'll raise mine Ebenezer, 
Hither by thy help, I'm come ; 
And I hope by thy good pleasure, 
Safely to arrive at home." 



i2 4 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

These, however, were not the last nor the most 
effective recruits of our colonial settlers. Ogle- 
thorpe was essentially a fighting man. To oppose 
the renowned infantry of Spain he needed other 
fighting men, and perhaps nowhere on earth was 
the martial spirit stronger or more prevalent than 
in the romantic Highlands of Scotland. There, 
near Inverness, a Lieutenant Hugh Mackey was 
commissioned to bring together one hundred and 
ten freemen and servants, to which fifty women 
and children were allowed. The recruiting was 
swiftly done. Many of these brave men came from 
the Glen Straldean, about nine miles from Inver- 
ness, and were commanded by officers whose de- 
scendants still hold high positions of honor and 
trust in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, and 
in our own country. They brought with them their 
minister, the Reverend John McLeod. George 
Dunbar was their captain. On the north side of 
the Altamaha they built a village and named it 
"New Inverness." To the most intrepid service 
to their adopted country in colonial and revolu- 
tionary times, these gallant Scotchmen have super- 
added obedience to the scriptural injunction, "mul- 
tiply and replenish the earth." Sometimes when 
the rolls of the juries and grand juries of the courts 
of the United States in south Georgia are called 
the answers of the Mclntoshes, McNeils, Mcln- 
tyres, McLains, Frazers, Hamiltons, Gordons, and 
Grahams, and many another famous Scottish name, 
might make one fancy that he is with Waverly 
watching Fergus Mclver and his clansmen come 
down the glen, or hears the cry "Scotland forever" 
as the Scots Greys charged home at Waterloo, or 
"Highlanders, shoulder to shoulder," heard the 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 125 

world around when the meteor flag of England 
has streamed above the press of battle. 

"In 1738," writes Carlyle, "the ear of Jenkins 
re-emerged and set all England bellowing." Seven 
years before this most portentous of all ears had 
been sliced off by a Spanish captain, who insolently 
told the English sailor to show it to his king. "All 
this while," writes Carlyle, "Jenkins had been 
steadfastly navigating to and fro, steadfastly eat- 
ing tough junk, with a whetting of rum; not think- 
ing too much of past labors, yet privately always 
keeping his lost ear in cotton (with a kind of ursine 
piety, or other dumb feeling), no mortal now 
knows." Other causes of aggravation were not 
wanting, and the English people were ripe for war 
with Spain. Oglethorpe made it plain that he and 
his colonists would be on the firing-line. Ogle- 
thorpe was made a colonel, and was authorized to 
organize and command a regiment, which he did, 
largely at his own expense. He was made com- 
mander-in-chief of Georgia and South Carolina 
also. No more was he to sleep in his tent under the 
sighing pines above the Savannah. He had es- 
tablished a military post at Frederica, on St. Si- 
mons Island, and there Charles Wesley had gone 
with his patron. It does not appear that Ogle- 
thorpe ever claimed a foot of land in that State 
which his generosity and his daring established, but 
where the military road connecting Fort St. Simon 
with Frederica entered the wood, he built him a 
cottage. "Magnificent oaks," writes Charles Col- 
cock Jones in his valuable History of Georgia,* 
"threw their protecting shadows above and around 



*Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 



126 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

this quiet pleasant abode. Fanned by delicious 
sea breezes, fragrant with the perfume of flowers, 
and vocal with the melody and song of birds. To 
the westward and in full view were the fortifica- 
tions and the white houses of Frederica. Behind 
were rows of dense forest oak." A description 
even more enchanting of this locality, which is but 
a type of those storied islands which shelter the 
coast of Georgia from the thunderous waves of the 
Atlantic, is given by Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler, 
the renowned actress, who in ante-bellum days for 
a time shared the heart and home of her husband, 
a rice planter there. "How can I describe to you 
the exquisite spring beauty that is now adorning 
these woods, the variety of the fresh born foliage, 
the fragrance of the sweet, wild perfumes that fill 
the air?" she writes. "Honeysuckles twine around 
every tree. The ground is covered with a low, 
white-blossomed shrub, more fragrant than the 
lilies of the valley. Every stump is like a classical 
altar to the sylvan gods, garlanded with flowers; 
every post, or stick, or slight stem, like a Bac- 
chante's thyrsus, twined with wreathes of ivy and 
wild vine, waving in the tepid wind. Beautiful but- 
terflies flicker like flying flowers among the bushes, 
and gorgeous birds, like winged jewels, dart from 
the boughs." 

Notwithstanding these natural charms, the sweet 
soul of young Wesley might soon have sorrowed at 
the thought of Bishop Heber, "Where every pros- 
pect pleases, and only man is vile." "With what 
trembling," he said, "should I call this flock mine." 
"On Sunday morning," he said, "he preached with 
boldness, but Oglethorpe went off with the Indians 
to hunt buffalo." Then it was that one W. M. dis- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 127 

covered to the chaplain what he termed "the whole 
mystery of iniquity." Two damsels, who whipped 
their waiting-maids, talked with emphasis, and 
carried themselves with great freedom, claimed to 
be rivals in the affections of the forty-seven- 
year-old bachelor, the commander-in-chief. Wes- 
ley rapidly fell ill with excitement and anxiety. 
Then, too, the doctor would hunt on Sunday, and 
on the second Sunday atrociously fired off a gun 
during sermon time. Wesley had the doctor ar- 
rested for this early violation of the Georgia law 
which in this day denounces the offense of "disturb- 
ing a congregation lawfully assembled for divine 
service." When the doctor was arrested for shoot- 
ing off his gun, one of the offending damsels afore- 
said fired a gun also, and wished to be arrested, but 
was not. When Oglethorpe returned he was for 
a time very angry with Wesley, who was very dis- 
consolate. "My congregation," wrote Wesley, 
"has dwindled to two Presbyterians and one Papist, 
and the sandflies are an infinite torment." John 
Wesley comes, but does not help matters. Prob- 
ably both brothers, and the tale bearers, exagger- 
ated that chivalric and courtly bearing toward the 
gentler sex, on the part of the commander-in-chief, 
which he had doubtless acquired in the gay camp 
of Marlborough, of which Thackeray in "Henry 
Esmond" gives such a lively account. Certain it is, 
according to Wesley himself, "Oglethorpe soon, 
in a most solemn manner, expressed to him his re- 
gret for his unkind usage," and to demonstrate his 
sincerity, embraced and kissed him with the most 
cordial affection. The reconciliation was not with- 
out a naive diplomacy and a trace of ambiguity 
on the part of our hero. "I have expected death 



128 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

for some days," he said to his chaplain. "The 
Spaniards intend to cut us off at a blow. I fall by 
my friends. But death is to me nothing. I could 
clear up all," he added, "but it matters not. You 
will soon see the reason of my actions." "I attend- 
ed him," said Wesley, "to the scout boat, where he 
waited some minutes for his sword. They brought 
him the first and a second time a mourning sword. 
At last they gave him his own, which had been his 
father's. 'With this sword,' says he, 'I was never 
yet unsuccessful.' T hope, sir,' said I, 'you carry 
with you a better, even the sword of the Lord and 
of Gideon.' 'I hope so, too,' " he added. Wesley 
then said, "God be with you. Go forth, 'Christo 
duce, et auspice Christo.' " His last words to the 
people were, "God bless you all." The boat then 
carried him out of sight. Wesley interceded for 
him, that God would save him from death, would 
wash out all his sins, and prepare him before he 
took the sacrifice to himself. Oglethorpe never 
loved John Wesley as he loved Charles, but there 
is an old story to the effect that on suddenly meet- 
ing the Founder of Methodism, after long years, 
he took him by the hand and kissed him and 
treated him with the utmost deference and affec- 
tion. 

In sight of his home at Frederica the soldierly 
skill of Oglethorpe and the daring of his men made 
him victor in the most vital struggle which ever 
took place on the soil of the United States, between 
the English and the Latin-speaking races. "Half 
the world," writes Carlyle, "was hidden in embryo 
under it. The incalculable Yankee nation itself, 
the greatest phenomenon of these ages. This too, 
little as careless readers on either side of the sea 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 129 

now know it, lay involved. Shall there be a Yankee 
nation ? Shall the New World be of Spanish type ? 
Shall it be English?" "Issues," wrote this strong- 
est thinker of the nineteenth century, "which we 
may call immense." 

From Oglethorpe's individual report, written 
while the smoke of battle had scarcely drifted 
seaward from the historic sands of St. Simon's 
Island, we gather the story of that epochal strug- 
gle. "The Spaniards came sailing up the coast in 
a fleet of more than fifty vessels. Their army 
amounted to 5,090 men." Against these Ogle- 
thorpe could oppose a few weak merchant vessels 
and armed boats and 652 men in all. "The Span- 
iards," he said, "after an obstinate engagement of 
four hours, in which they lost many men, passed 
all our batteries and shipping, and got out of shot 
from them, towards Frederica. Our guardship 
was disabled and sunk, one of our batteries blown 
up, also some of our men on board. I called a 
council of war at the head of the regiment, where 
it. was unanimously resolved not to give Frederica 
to the enemy. On the 7th, a party of theirs marched 
toward the town. Our men had discovered them, 
and brought an account of their march, on which I 
advanced with a party of Indians, rangers, and the 
Highland company, ordering the regiment to fol- 
low, being resolved to engage them in the denies of 
the woods, before they could get out and form in 
the open ground. I charged them at the head of 
our Indians, Highlandmen, and rangers, and God 
was pleased to give us- such success, that we en- 
tirely routed the first party, took one captain pris- 
oner, and killed another, and pursued them two 
miles to an open meadow or savannah, upon the 



130 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

edge of which I posted three platoons of the regi- 
ment and the company of Highland foot, so as to 
be covered by the woods from the enemy, who were 
obliged to pass through the meadow under our fire. 
This disposition was very fortunate. Captain An- 
tonio Barba and two other captains, with one hun- 
dred grenadiers and two hundred foot, besides In- 
dians and negroes, advanced from the Spanish 
navy toward the Savannah, and fired with great 
spirit, but not seeing our men in the woods, none 
of their shot took effect, but ours did." Generally, 
the Spaniards fired so much at random that the 
fields were strewn with the balls from their mus- 
kets. Their losses in killed, wounded, and prison- 
ers was estimated at five hundred. The loss in 
Oglethorpe's detachment was very inconsiderable. 
To this day the scene of the action thus described 
is denominated the "Bloody Marsh." The Span- 
iards, now completely demoralized, retired to 
Oglethorpe's half-destroyed fort, but by a strata- 
gem a few days thereafter they were expelled there- 
from, took to their ships, and never returned. It 
seems almost incredible that an army of nearly five 
thousand Spanish troops, with complete control of 
the sea, should have been defeated and expelled 
from the colony, by a force of between six and seven 
hundred men. Said the renowned Whitfield, "The 
deliverance of Georgia from the Spaniards is such 
that it may not be paralleled, but by some instances 
out of the Old Testament. Certain it is that this 
battle, though well-nigh forgotten, is one of the 
most glorious and decisive in the annals of our 
country. It determined that North America should 
be left to the exploitation of the Anglo-Saxon, the 
Celtic, and the Teutonic races. Had success at- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 13 r 

tended the Spaniards, they would have advanced 
on the more northern settlements." General Ogle- 
thorpe received from the Governors of New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, 
and North Carolina, special letters, thanking him 
for the invaluable services he had rendered to the 
British-American provinces, congratulating him on 
his success, the great renown he had acquired, and 
expressing "their gratitude to the Supreme Gov- 
ernor of Nations for placing the affairs of the colo- 
nies under the direction of a general, so well quali- 
fied for the important trust." 

The permanency and safety of the colony se- 
cured, Oglethorpe in 1743 left Georgia to return 
no more. He repaired to his ancestral domain in 
England, and was there welcomed by the plaudits 
of the good and great of every party. Of him 
Alexander Pope had exclaimed: 

"Thy great example shall thro ages shine, 
A favorite theme with poet and divine, 
To all unborn thy merits shall proclaim, 
And add new honors to thy deathless name." 

On his return to England, with the usual fate of 
men who have served mankind well, Oglethorpe 
had to encounter detraction, one Colonel Cook, 
who had been under his command, being the de- 
tractor; but a court martial of general officers pro- 
nounced all the charges groundless, false and mali- 
cious, and at their request the King expelled Cook 
from the service. The father of Dr. Oliver Wen- 
dell Holmes declared that his character now "ap- 
peared in resplendent light." 

In 1744, in September of that year, Oglethorpe 
was married, and for the first time. He was now 
fifty-six years of age. His bride was Elizabeth 



132 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

Wright, the daughter and heiress of Sir Nathan 
Wright, of Cranham Hall. It is significant that as 
early as 1728, another Wesley, in persuasive verse, 
had exhorted Oglethorpe to marry: 

" Tis single, 'tis imperfect light, 

The world, from worth unwedded, shares; 
He only shines completely bright, 
Who leaves his virtues to his heirs. 

With joy his summons I attend, 

And fly with speed away ; 
Let but the patriot condescend 

To fix his marriage day." 

His marriage was a happy one, and a friend of 
the family, writing to the Gentleman's Magazine, 
after Mrs. Oglethorpe's death, gently observes 
that "to her magnanimity and prudence, on an oc- 
casion of much difficulty, it was owing that the 
evening of their lives was tranquil and pleasant." 

He commanded a division of the British Army 
to repel the invasion of Prince Charlie in 1745* 
His military career ended with that campaign and 
with a quarrel with the Duke of Cumberland, "the 
butcher of Culloden," who treated him most un- 
justly. Oglethorpe was again exonerated by his 
brother officers, with the approval of the King, but 
he never held military command again. It is a 
most interesting fact that General Lachlan Mac- 
intosh, who was one of the foremost men in the 
siege of Savannah in 1778, had been preventedby 
Oglethorpe's kindly admonition from leaving 
Georgia to join the Pretender. Oglethorpe was 
now a very old man. The noble veteran had ever 
been a favorite with the ladies. His graceful man- 
ners and charming gifts as a conversationalist and 
raconteur were most fascinating to that apprecia- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 133 

tive sex even in his extreme old age. In a letter to 
her sister in 1784, Hannah Moore wrote: "I have 
got a new admirer; it is the famous General Ogle- 
thorpe, perhaps the most remarkable man of his 
time. He was foster brother to the Pretender; 
and is much above ninety years old, the finest figure 
you ever saw. He perfectly realizes all my ideas 
of Nestor. His literature is great; his knowledge 
of the world extensive; and his faculties as bright 
as ever. He is one of the three persons still living 
who were mentioned by Pope ; Lord Mansfield and 
Lord Marchmont were the other two. He was the 
intimate friend of Southern, the tragic poet, and all 
the wits of that time. He is perhaps the oldest 
man of a Gentleman living. I went to see him the 
other day, and he would have entertained me by 
repeating passages from Sir Eldred. He is quite 
a preux chevalier, heroic, romantic, and full of the 
old gallantry." Mr. Bancroft must have had this 
passage in mind, when he afterwards wrote of the 
Founder of Georgia : "In a commercial period, a 
monarchist in the state, and friendly to the church, 
he seemed even in youth like the relic of a more 
chivalrous century. His life was prolonged to 
near five score; and even in the last year of it he 
was extolled as 'the finest figure ever seen,' the im- 
personation of venerable age; his faculties were 
bright, his eye undimmed; heroic, romantic, and 
full of the old gallantry, he was like the sound of 
the lyre, as it still vibrates after the spirit that 
sweeps its strings has passed away." 

His long life had been epochal. Its youth was 
marked by great events. It was an age of incom- 
parable mental activity. Peter the Great, barbar- 
ian and giant, laid the foundation of that semi- 



134 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

Asiatic power of whose people Napoleon in after 
years declared, "Scratch a Russian and you find a 
Tartar." Oglethorpe took part in the gigantic 
wars succeeding the English Revolution. The me- 
teoric career of Charles XII of Sweden, who was 
but two years older, was ended by a shot through 
the brain at the siege of Friedrikshall, when Ogle- 
thorpe was thirty. It was the age when from the 
shores of Lake Leman, Voltaire was sending forth 
those excruciating messages which at times, in the 
words of Macaulay, "were used to vindicate jus- 
tice, humanity and toleration, the principles of 
sound philosophy, and the principles of free gov- 
ernment," but at others "to crush and torture ene- 
mies, worthy only of silent disdain, and to destroy 
the last solace of earthly misery, and the last re- 
straint on earthly power." It was the age of the 
last of the great kings, Frederick of Prussia. When 
this illustrious monarch was born, on the 14th of 
January, 17 12, Oglethorpe was sixteen years old, 
and when Frederick died in 1786, not only had 
Georgia grown to be a State, but the independence 
of all America had been for three years established. 
In literature he connected the age of Addison, Pope 
and Swift with the age of Goldsmith and Johnson; 
in forensic oratory the age of Somers with the age 
of Erskine; in constructive statesmanship the age 
of Halifax and Burnet with that of Alexander 
Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. He was born 
before the Declaration of Rights, and died nineteen 
years after the Declaration of Independence. Had 
he lived four years longer he would have connected 
the reign of William of Orange with the Presiden- 
cy of George Washington. The Duke of Marl- 
borough, from whom he obtained his first commis- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 135 

sion, was now dead for sixty years. Prince Eu- 
gene, with whom he had served in the famous cam- 
paigns with the Turks, had been dead for fifty 
years. The grandchildren of his contemporaries 
were now old men. His own grand-nephew was a 
general officer in France. He had been an intimate 
associate with the greatest Englishmen of the 
eighteenth century. Most of these were now dead. 
Oglethorpe, when he met John Adams, was ninety- 
seven years of age, and was to live four months 
longer. Samuel Johnson had died in 1784 at the 
age of seventy-four; Oglethorpe, who was then 
ninety-six, relishedlife still and had more than seven 
months to live. He was seen and sketched while 
reading at the sale of Dr. Johnson's books, and 
Samuel Rogers, who was then a boy of twenty- 
two, used to tell how he looked: "Very, very old, 
and his skin altogether like parchment; the young- 
sters whispered with awe that in youth he had shot 
snipe in Conduit Street, near the corner of Bond." 
Well might it be said of him, in the beautiful verse 
of Dr. Holmes: 

"The mossy marbles rest 
On the lips he has pressed 

In their bloom, 
And the names he loved to hear 
Have been carved for many a year 
On the tomb." 

Of this great man, to whom religious freedom 
and the English race are probably indebted for ex- 
istence as dominant forces upon the American con- 
tinent, no adequate memorial is preserved. To me 
he is one of the most interesting and ennobling 
characters of whom the annals of time give an ac- 
count. He did not live for himself, but for others. 



136 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

It has been the unvarying custom of all nations 
who possessed a worthy past or hopeful future, 
to illumine the minds and evolve the patriotism of 
their young men, by the storied marble and endur- 
ing bronze which commemorate the virtues of 
their heroes, their benefactors, their statesmen, 
and their philosophers. The wooded heights of 
Mount Hymettus cast their shadows on countless 
statues, chiseled by the genius of Grecian sculpture, 
perpetuating for the youth of Athens the great who 
lived and died for the City of the Violet Crown. 
On the rock, hallowed by the foot of the patriot, 
when he sprang from the bark of Gessler, stands 
the statue of William Tell. In the dim religious 
light of the Cathedral in Innsbruck, the peasant of 
the Tyrol may drop the tear of piety and patriot- 
ism at the monumental shrine consecrated to the 
memory of Andrew Holier ; and when the first light 
of the morning sun glorifies the white dome and 
the marble porticoes of the Capitol at Washington, 
with equal ray it casts on the placid bosom of the 
Potomac, the shadow of that towering monument 
erected by Americans to commemorate the love 
and veneration which will forever animate them 
for the Father of his Country. In the annals of 
the English-speaking race — glorious as they are, 
with the names of the illustrious, the patriotic and 
the good — there is none more deserving an im- 
perishable monument than James Edward Ogle- 
thorpe. 



OFFICIAL REPORT OF DON MANUEL 

MONTIANO, SPANISH COMMANDER 

OF THE EXPEDITION AGAINST 

GEORGIA IN 1742. 

The following is a translation of the official re- 
port of Don Manuel Montiano, Governor of 
Florida and Commandant-General of the expedi- 
tion against Georgia in 1742. It presents with 
much naivete the Spanish view of the famous 
fight, and is of especial interest from the fact that 
it is published here for the first time in this coun- 
try. The incapacity of the Spaniards high in au- 
thority at that time, when Spain still held the re- 
spect and awe of the other nations of Europe, is 
apparent. It may be said to mark the beginning 
of their national degeneracy, or at least its revela- 
tion to other nations : 

"General Archives of the Indies: 
"Audience Chamber of Santo Domingo: 
"Louisiana and Florida. 
"Letter of Don Manuel Montiano, Governor of 
Florida and Commandant-General of the ex- 
pedition against the English established in 
Georgia and Carolina, reporting on the oc- 
currences and results of that expedition. 
"Florida, August 3, 1742. 
"Very Dear Sir: 

"I send to your Honor the enclosed information, 
so that your Honor may be pleased to place it in 
the hands of the Royal and Supreme Council of the 
Indies, that they may take notice of its contents. 

137 



1 38 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

"Your Honor will find me at your orders with 
an unchangeable and sure affection, wishing to ex- 
ercise myself in any way that may be to the satis- 
faction of your Honor, and trusting that our 
Lord will guard your Honor for many happy 
years. 

"St. Augustine, Florida, August 3, 1742. 
"I kiss the hands of your Honor, 
"Your most devoted servant, 
(Signed) "Don Manuel Montiano. 
"To Senor Fernando Trivino. 



"Sir — In a letter of October 31st of last year 
1 was informed by Sr. Jose del Campillo, that your 
Majesty, having resolved to make up in Havana 
an army with which to harass Carolina and her de- 
pendencies, this order was communicated to me by 
order of your Majesty, the object being for me to 
give to the Lieutenant-General, Sr. Juan Francisco 
de Guemes and Horcasitas, Governor of Havana, 
all the information that I could obtain, helping to 
facilitate the most happy end of this Royal Dispo- 
sition; and, having executed the same with all cor- 
responding promptness, I was explicit in stating to 
said Lieutenant-General, Governor of Havana, 
that he might command me for any purpose that 
he might choose to use me in the service of your 
Majesty; consequently, on the 14th day of May he 
communicated to me by letter brought by an officer 
of that garrison in a small vessel, that my person 
had been selected for the command of the expedi- 
tion that had been determined on, the letter con- 
taining particular commissions and advices condu- 
cive to the most advantageous service of your 
Majesty, and stating that the army was ready to 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 139 

start, and notwithstanding the fact that in the se- 
cret Council of War that took place between my- 
self and the naval and land officers of that fortified 
town, the Royal design and wishes of your Majesty 
were considered impracticable on account of the 
insufficient maritime strength of the fleet under the 
command of the Lieutenant-General, Don Rodrigo 
de Torres, it was decided in ';he meantime that it 
was necessary to undertake some operation against 
Georgia for the purpose of getting satisfaction in 
part for the insults and treachery attempted and 
committed by the actions of those Provinces, and 
on account of the indisputable rights of your 
Majesty to them. 

"Said Lieutenant-General having sent ahead a 
convoy of ten small vessels, with some small force 
of militia convoyed by a galley, on the 6th day of 
June they met an English Coast Guard vessel of 
twenty-four cannon, that with her artillery, long 
boat and small boats, attacked some of the before- 
mentioned small vessels, and the galley, not being 
able to help them all, they were in considerable 
danger, so much so that two of them found it nec- 
essary to run ashore, in one of which they killed 
a Lieutenant of Artillery and a Corporal and 
wounded a Lieutenant of Militia, and they (the 
English), having attempted to send a boat to take 
the grounded sloop, our troops that were then 
ashore began to fire on them to such effect that 
they compelled the men of the English vessel to 
ask for quarter, and an officer and eighteen sailors 
were taken prisoners. 

"On the 1 5th of said month they happily arrived 
off this bar, conducted by Colonel Don Francisco 
Rubiani, and on account of their beinor short of 



i 4 o JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

water and on account of the severe thunderstorms 
and strong winds, that cost us some damage, and 
because of the wrecking of a long boat in which 
were drowned a Chaplain and some sailors, I 
could not leave this Port until the 23d of the same 
month, and the wind having been on that day 
North East, I had to postpone my sailing until 
the first of July, on which day I sailed with all 
the vessels that composed the armament. 

"I proceeded to Georgia, and, finding myself on 
the 2nd day in its vicinity, we were attacked 
from the South by a furious South East storm, that 
scattered us all about, without human remedy to 
avoid it. We remained scattered for many days, 
and having gathered together again the greatest 
part, with the exception of four small galleys, four 
Peraguas, two schooners, two long boats and one 
boat, we anchored on the 10th day in view of the 
Port of Gualquini,* where we remained without 
being able to advance to it on account of contrary 
winds, until the 16th day, on which we gloriously 
effected an entrance to the Port, without any losses 
more than five men against the land and sea forces 
following. 

"At the entrance of the Port was a fort built of 
Earthf with grassy sides, with parapets of brick, 
in the shape of a horseshoe, which contained a 
mortar of bronze to throw bombs, and five Royal 
hand grenades, and in its vicinity was located a 
breastwork, with three cannon, which defended 
the entrance; at a distance of two musket shots 
and to the West was another square fort, with four 

♦St. Simon's Sound. 
tFort St. Simon's. 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 141 

bastions built in the middle of the walls, con- 
structed of fat timber and of earth, with a ditch 
around it six and a half feet in width and four feet 
deep. Upon the parapets ran pits of terraced 
casks, and sown with prickly pears, which covered 
the parapets, and on the interior was extended a 
row of palisades to prevent a surprise, in which 
were mounted seven cannon, three of which were 
eighteen-pounders, and six mortars and hand gren- 
ades, and between the first and second fortress they 
had raised breastworks, with five cannon; and to 
the West of those forts was another breastwork in 
circular form, for the purpose of inflicting injury 
with musket fire. 

"Within the Port and between the distances of 
the described forts was a frigate of twenty-four 
cannon; to the East followed a schooner of four- 
teen guns; after that was a sloop of ten guns, and 
next to that there were in line eight sloops and 
schooners well equipped with men, who were em- 
ployed in the handling of muskets for defending 
the entrance, but, notwithstanding these, we pos- 
sessed ourselves of the Port and anchored at about 
5 in the afternoon. 

"Immediately I ordered all the troops to land, 
allowing the enemy no chance to regain strength 
from the discouragement to which our victory had 
brought them, and we did this, happily, without 
opposition, and on the break of next morning I 
started marching, all of us resolved to advance 
against the first fort, having previously ordered a 
few Indians to advance to watch the condition and 
movements of our enemy, and they having returned 
with the news of not having found any one, the 
Major-General, Don Antonio de Arredondo, ad- 



i 4 2 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

vanced to ascertain this for himself, and for fur- 
ther certainty I ordered two companies of Grena- 
diers* to advance for the purpose of reconnoiter- 
ing more exactly and determining for themselves 
if that was a movement of the retiring enemy, and 
it having been confirmed, I continued my march up 
to their fortifications, which I immediately occu- 
pied, leaving the necessary guards and placing 
some pickets at places that appeared to be paths 
or openings in the woods, for the purpose of stop- 
ping any inroad that they may have intended to 
carry out. 

"The Indians and Grenadiers brought with them 
two prisoners, who confirmed the running away of 
General Oglethorpe to the town of Frederica, dis- 
tant about two leagues from the Gualquini forts, 
and, while I could have followed to his retreat, I 
did not think it prudent to do so until I could be 
fully acquainted with the roads and lands through 
which I had to march — intelligently — to which 
end I thought it convenient to go to Frederica 
Town by two sides at one time. I sent the Captain 
of the Pickets of this Garrison, Don Sebastian San- 
chez, as a man who had been at that place, with 
fifty men, to reconnoiter the roads leading to the 
dock-yard (careening place), where appeared to 
be a suitable place for the landing of our artillery; 
at the same time I sent by the road that goes direct 
to Frederica the Captain of the Mountain Militia, 
Don Nicolas Hernandez, with twenty-five men 
from his troops and forty Indians, to make an ex- 
amination of it, and, it happening that Don Sebas- 
tian Sanchez mistook the road that he was to 



*This was a regiment of Cuban negroes raised in Havana — 
probably the first negro soldiers ever in service in this country. 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 143 

travel and meeting with Don Nicolas Hernandez, 
both continued in one body to the town, in the 
vicinity of which they were attacked by the English 
troops and Indians on the edge of the woods where 
it was very thick, which accident was the cause of 
much unavoidable confusion, in which we suffered 
the loss of two Captains and eleven soldiers taken 
prisoners, ten wounded and twelve killed, and, 
having been advised of what had taken place, I or- 
dered three companies of Grenadiers forward to 
succor our troops and to secure their retreat, but 
before the Grenadiers had arrived at the place 
where the former were attacked, they were also 
attacked in another ambush, surrounded by a 
marsh,* where there was no other road than for 
the one man at a time, and the Captain of the 
Grenadiers, knowing that they could not do any 
better than to sacrifice the troops, they continued 
to fight with renewed courage, as they could not 
see who was shooting at them, nor did the ground 
allow any movement of the troops, they resolved 
to make a retreat in the best possible order, having 
lost Don Miguel Bucareli and six officers killed. 

"The Captain of the Mountain Militia, Don 
Nicolas Hernandez, taking advantage of the little 
precaution taken to tie him up by the two soldiers 
in charge of him, unfastened himself, and they, 
having seen this action, attempted to tie him up 
better by the arms, but at this moment, without 
giving them time to do it, as a brave and courage- 
ous man he threw himself on one of the two, tak- 
ing his sword from him and killing him, and then 
killed the other one, thus freeing himself and re- 



: Bloody Marsh. 



i 4 4 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

turning to our camp four days after his escape. 
This Captain and some of his men, being from the 
mountains and raised in the mountains, were so 
tired out in the woods that they believed they were 
going to lose their lives before finding the road. 

"With this information, and that brought by the 
Captain of Grenadiers and our Indians, they saying 
positively that the woods were impassable and full 
of marshes and ponds, and considering in the mean- 
time the representations made by the Minister of 
the Royal Treasury, Don Antonio de la Atora, re- 
marking the probable exhaustion of the provisions 
and that they had to arrange the necessary ones for 
the retreat, and that there were no more (provi- 
sions) than would barely last to the end of August, 
and being of no less consideration the stormy 
months of August and September, the maritime 
forces that were then in Carolina superior to ours 
that we learned from the statements of the pris- 
oners taken were daily expected by General Ogle- 
thorpe, and that with our delays originated by the 
storms, the finding of the galley and the small con- 
voy, and having maintained ourselves on its course, 
it could with some foundation be of the mind to 
attack us, and had time enough to get prepared 
for it and to obtain the proper necessaries, the 
great need of the thirteen small vessels that had 
not come back to us, among which were four Gal- 
liots, some troops and all the Sappers, without the 
troops and the said small boats any operation by 
land was impracticable, and also by the rivers to a 
distance of little more than two leagues, and con- 
sidering lastly the especial instructions from the 
Lieutenant-General, Don Juan Francisco de 
Guemes and Horcasitas, to the very important end 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 145 

of securing the retreat of the troops on account of 
the important need that we had of them in the 
fortified towns of Havana and Florida, I convoked 
a Council of War of the Commandants and high- 
est officers of the army, laying before them all the 
reasons and motives that impelled me to call them 
together. I asked them to express their judgment 
on what was necessary to be done in the situation 
in which we were placed, and they said they were 
of the opinion that there was no better way than 
to reconnoiter the river that goes up to Frederica 
Town and see if there was a place where the troops 
and artillery could land for the purpose of attack- 
ing the Fort and Frederica Town, which proceed- 
ings could be carried into effect while the vessels 
were supplying themselves with water, but they 
had to bear in mind that even if there was a favor- 
able place to land, we could not engage ourselves 
in any siege that would require more than six days, 
considering the news given us that there were not 
sufficient provisions to last longer than the end of 
August, calling for economy; all these things were 
of such gravity that they obliged us to think of 
nothing else than to retreat to our fortified town, 
thus avoiding the danger that, with the delay, was 
threatening us, and in consequence of these opin- 
ions the Engineer of Ordnance, Don Pedro Ruiz 
de Olano, passed with the Galley and two Galliots, 
to reconnoiter as suggested, and he proceeded up 
to within rifle shot of Frederica without finding a 
place appropriate for landing the troops on ac- 
count of all the shore of the River Sienga and Zac- 
atel* being of soft or sinking ground, and only 

*The south branch of the Altamaha River, flowing to the 
west of St. Simon's Island to St. Simon's Sound. 



i 4 6 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

within a cannon shot he thought he could see a 
clear place, on which he thought the troops could 
be landed, but considering that with such known 
danger of exposing our troops to a great loss and 
principally not having been able to determine if 
there was any battery, intrenchments or breast- 
works there or not, I did not find it convenient to 
decide myself to engage in an operation so evi- 
dently hazardous. Notwithstanding this, I sus- 
pended my determination until I could call a Coun- 
cil of War principally because at break of this day 
a deserter arrived at our camp and declared that 
General Oglethorpe had marched all night with 
five hundred men to surprise us before daylight, 
and taking into consideration the instructions re- 
ceived from the State, and the strength of Ogle- 
thorpe, said to consist of one thousand men, one- 
half of whom were taken from his own regiment 
and the rest consisting of Country people and In- 
dians, that the town of Frederica had a battery 
looking to the river, with a small artillery of 
eighteen-pounders, with mortars and bombs and 
Royal Grenades; that on the shores of the river 
near the town there were breastworks where he 
could place his men under protection to oppose our 
landing, and on the other hand was another cannon 
with which it was not difficult to penetrate our ves- 
sels. He had built a battery of mortars, garri- 
soned with some troops, and added that they were 
depending on the thickness of the woods and the 
marshes of the Island for their defense. He also 
declared that he (Oglethorpe) was waiting for aid 
of men and vessels, and that those of Carolina could 
not be very long in arriving, as well as those of 
Virginia and Philadelphia, on account of his hav- 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 147 

ing dispatched couriers to all parts on account of 
the fear he had, which was caused by the finding of 
the Galley and small convoy of vessels at Cape 
Canaveral, this having been confirmed by having 
seen our armament for such a length of time on 
this coast. 

"A few hours after the deserter arrived and 
while getting ready to form the second Council of 
War, the advance guards of the Navy and the look- 
out on the mastheads of the ships informed us 
that there were arriving into Port three square- 
rigged ships, a one-masted schooner and a sloop. 
This information compelled me to suspend the 
Council of War and only take counsel from the 
Colonel, Don Francisco Rubiani, and from the 
Lieutenant-Colonel, Don Antonio Salgado, and 
from the Major-General, Don Antonio Arredon- 
do, who were of the opinion that we had to place 
all our attention on the retreat, as there was a 
good probability that Oglethorpe would attack 
us by land as well as with his ships by water, and 
therefore I ordered that all the troops should pass 
to the Island over the other side,* thus giving time 
to our ships to take provisions and be relieved and 
ready for their defense, and that the smaller ves- 
sels in the meantime, while I was marching with 
the troops by land, should enter by the River Bal- 
lenast and wait for me on the bar of the same 
name, where I wanted to take ship and go to take 
and demolish Fort St. Andrews, $ and having 

*Jekyl Island. 

tSt. Andrew's Sound, between Cumberland and Jekyl 
Islands. 
$On Cumberland Island. 



148 JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

put this plan into effect, I found it empty, with 
one four-pound cannon, three swivel guns and 
some war stores, and a number of horses, which 
were killed. 

"From here to act quickly I ordered to land, while 
the vessels were finishing their arriving, the small 
vessels, with the provisions needed, and two hun- 
dred men to occupy Fort San Pedro,* which the 
previous night fired on the four Galliots, long boats 
and Peraguas, which had been separated from us 
by the storm and were now coming in to be incor- 
porated with us, but finding myself without pro- 
visions because the vessels that were carrying them 
were sailing on the outside in the direction of 
Florida, I thought it more advisable to prefer the 
transport of the troops to this fortified town as 
quickly as possible, rather than stopping without 
provisions; therefore I ordered the vessels to sail 
by the Bar of Ballenas, and I, with the four Gal- 
liots, long boats and Peraguas, kept on the inside 
of the river to reconnoiter said Fort of San Pedro, 
as it may be important later on, and having done 
so, notwithstanding the fire from it, to which I 
ordered the four Galliots to answer, I continued 
my trip, arriving as far as the River St. John, 
whence by land I arrived at this place on the ist 
instant, where I found that all the troops that 
shipped on the vessels that came by the outside had 
arrived. 

"During the days that I was camping at Gual- 
quini, notwithstanding the lack of Sappers, I man- 
aged to demolish and level off the forts and bat- 
teries by using the troops and militia in detach- 

*At mouth of St. Mary's River, just below St. Mary's 
Town. 



JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 149 

ments, to ship the artillery of mortars and war 
stores that were found, to burn all the farm-houses, 
which were something like thirty, and destroying 
the freshly sown fields, and the last day we finished 
with the rest of the town, which consisted of sev- 
enty houses on seven streets, without having left 
any vestige or indication of there having been any 
people there. We executed the same with the 
reserve ships of two sloops, which were fitted, add- 
ing them to the armament of the Navy, and of the 
man-of-war that we took the same night that we 
took the Fort; profiting by the darkness and a 
thunderstorm, it escaped from us, notwithstanding 
the taking of the necessary steps by Don Antonio 
de Castenada to prevent her from escaping. 

"I noticed that the damage done to the English 
will amount to from 250,000 to 300,000 Pesos. 

"The same day that I marched by land to the 
Island of Vejeces, the enemy's ships left the coast 
with the shore wind that was blowing at that time, 
and with the same wind ours were able to sail, the 
intention of Don Antonio de Castenada, Com- 
mandant of the Army, and with my sanction, being 
to attack them, but he could not find them and 
sailed for Havana. 

"All the high and low officers of the Regulars 
and Militia, Don Antonio de Castenada, and the 
Marine Volunteers, have given proofs of special 
zeal and love for the Royal Service of Your 
Majesty, particularly Colonel Don Francisco Ru- 
biani, the Lieutenant-Colonel, Don Antonio Sal- 
gado, and the Second Engineer, Don Antonio de 
Arredondo, who has acted as Major-General with 
indefatigability, all of whom I recommend to the 
high honors of Your Majesty. 



i 5 o JAMES EDW. OGLETHORPE 

"I do not know, Sire, if my conduct will deserve 
the Royal Approval of Your Majesty, with the un- 
derstanding that all my vigilance has been directed 
to carry out the confidence in me invested, without 
other idea of reward than the ruination of the 
enemies of the Crown and the honor and glory of 
the arms of Your Majesty, which could have made 
great progress if the Omnipotent One that disposes 
of all things should not have shortened the plans 
that I had premeditated, to send three Galliots, un- 
der command of Lieutenant of the Navy Don 
Adrian Canteini, to the St. Simon's River and to 
the River Ballenas, commanded by the officer of 
the Navy, Don Francisco Pineda, to cut off the 
communications of the enemy and to obstruct the 
succor that could come to them from the North. 

"In consequence of the instructions of the Lieu- 
tenant-General, Don Juan Francisco de Guemes 
and Horcasitas, notwithstanding this, I expect 
from the Royal Magnanimity of Your Majesty 
that it will be Your pleasure to approve my actions, 
and that I will obtain the satisfaction and honors 
of Your Majesty, which Catholic Person I pray 
God to guard with many happy years, and whom 
all the Christian world needs. 

"St. Augustine, Florida, 3rd August, 1742. 
(Signed) "Sr. Don Manuel de Montiano." 




FACING PAGE I 5 1 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON* 

"Man's sociality of nature," writes Carlyle, 
"evinces itself, in spite of all that can be said, with 
abundant evidence by this one fact, were there no 
other: the unspeakable delight he takes in Biog- 
raphy. It is written, The proper study of man- 
kind 'is man' ; to which study, let us candidly admit, 
he, by true or by false methods, applies himself, 
nothing loth. Man is perennially interesting to 
man; nay, if we look strictly to it, there is nothing 
else interesting." 

These thoughts of this profound thinker are in- 
disputably true, when the man we contemplate is 
the Greek Anax Andron, a leader of men. Such 
an one is the topic for our consideration this 
evening. 

On the island of St. Nevis in the West Indies, 
the nth of January, 1757, Alexander Hamilton 
was born. Many great men have been precocious 
children. The astonishing precocity of Hamilton 
rivaled the growth of those tropical flowers per- 
fuming the zephyrs that caressed the soft tresses 
of the little child. We find him when twelve years 
old a clerk in a counting-room, and in the familiar 
letter to his friend Edward Stephens, at that tender 
age it is discovered that he is already the possessor 
of a vocabulary well nigh Johnsonian. "I con- 

*First of the series of lectures on the Storrs Foundation, 
delivered before the Law Department of Yale University, at 
New Haven, Connecticut, May, 1906. 

151 



1 52 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

temn," he writes, "the grovelling condition of a 
clerk or the like, to which my fortune condemns 
me, and would willingly risk my life, though not 
my character, to exalt my station. I am confident, 
Ned, that my youth excludes me from any hopes 
of immediate preferment, nor do I desire it, but I 
mean to prepare the way for futurity." So marked 
was his capacity at this time, that by friends or 
relatives he was entrusted with the sole manage- 
ment of a mercantile business of importance, and it 
cannot be doubted that the familiarity he thus ac- 
quired with business methods, and accounting, had 
the most important influence, when it devolved 
upon him to organize the Treasury, and to utilize 
the untouched resources of our country for the 
establishment of national credit. Indeed, I have 
long been convinced that no single accomplishment 
is of more practical value to the lawyer or states- 
man, than a precise knowledge of accounting and 
the methods of successful business men. 

The genius of this remarkable youth was soon 
appreciated by those who were concerned in his 
welfare. By a judicious liberality, for which they 
will deserve the gratitude of generations yet un- 
born, they made provision for his education. In 
his fifteenth year he left St. Nevis and arrived in 
Boston in October, 1772. He was advised to 
enter the grammar school at Elizabethtown, and 
at the end of the year he entered King's, now Co- 
lumbia College. There he had the assistance of a 
private tutor. He labored incessantly. In addi- 
tion to his regular studies he indulged his natural 
inclination and made continual excursions into the 
domains of finance, government, and politics. 

Hamilton was born twelve years after Jefferson. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 153 

Wellington and Napoleon were born in the same 
month. Of the latter conjunction "Providence," 
said Louis XVIII, "owed us that counterpoise." 

While Hamilton was thus in the words of his 
boyish letter striving "to prepare for futurity," 
there came in his affairs that tide which leads on 
to fortune. It was the rising tide of the American 
Revolution. The lad had been born in an English 
dependency. While it is probable that he had lis- 
tened to the declamations of the Boston patriots, 
he was now in New York where the Tories were in 
control. It is characteristic of the man, as he de- 
clares himself, that he had formed strong preju- 
dices on the Ministerial side, until he became con- 
vinced by the superior force of the arguments in 
favor of the Colonial cause. On the 6th of July, 
1774, a great open air meeting was held under the 
auspices of the patriot leaders. Hamilton was in 
attendance listening to the speakers. 

In the summer of the same year, perhaps in the 
same month, on the other side of the Atlantic, an- 
other youngster of Scottish antecedents, clothed 
in the regimentals of the Scots Royals, strolled 
into an English court at the assizes of a country 
town where Lord Mansfield was sitting. The 
Chief Justice, noticing the uniform, invited the 
young officer to a seat on the bench, briefly stated 
the principal points of the case, and offered other 
gratifying civilities. The subaltern listened with 
the liveliest interest. The counsel were among the 
leaders of the circuit, but it occurred to the mili- 
tary visitor in the course of the argument how 
much more clearly and forcibly he could have pre- 
sented certain points and urged them on the minds 
of the jury. This incident became the inception 



i 5 4 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

of the surpassing career in advocacy of Lord 
Thomas Erskine, who after the lapse of four gen- 
erations, comprising the Augustan age of our pro- 
fession, is still facile princeps among the advocates 
of the English speaking bar. 

Like Erskine, Hamilton was not satisfied with 
the patriotic orators in the "Fields." Conscious of 
his own powers, the student pressed through the 
crowd to the platform and in a moment stood be- 
fore the people. An accomplished biographer 
states that the populace stared at the audacious 
boy, and then nature asserted itself and his words 
flowed unchecked. Thrilled with the cogency and 
power of the young patriot's appeal, his vast au- 
dience whispered one to the other the significant 
words, "It is a collegian, it is a collegian." 

He took no step backward. But two years 
previously George the Third had exclaimed, 
"Junius is known and will write no more." This 
proved to be true. But the compositions of that 
master of style had been indelibly impressed upon 
those who spoke and wrote the English tongue. 
The written disputations of the day were expressed 
in pamphlets, or after the fashion of Junius, by 
essays addressed to the printer. Hamilton soon 
became a vigorous tractarian for the patriots. 
Two pamphlets he wrote; both were ascribed to 
men of distinguished ability, and when their au- 
thorship was disclosed the young writer was at 
once famous. But Hamilton had no purpose "to 
prepare for futurity" by the pen alone. Fie soon 
joined a volunteer corps. In addition to this, he 
almost immediately evinced a characteristic, essen- 
tial then, and more essential now, to every leader 
of thought or action in our country — the detestation 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 155 

and abhorrence of the mob. With the rule of the 
mob, the reign of the law and the lawyer is gone. 
A British line-of-battle ship, the Asia, in the har- 
bor, had opened fire on the town. The Liberty 
Boys could not get at the ship, and rushed en masse 
to King's College to wreak their vengeance on a 
more convenient and perhaps less formidable ob- 
ject, Dr. Cooper, the Tory president of that seat 
of letters. But they found their leader Hamilton, 
and Troup, his lifelong friend, on the steps of the 
building ready to protect their preceptor. Hamil- 
ton proceeded to address the crowd and to de- 
nounce their lawless conduct. Dr. Cooper, who it 
seems did not hear or comprehend the nature of 
Hamilton's harangue, or who perhaps recalled 
the classic aphorism, "Timeo Danaos et dona 
ferentes," from an upper story warned the mob 
not to be guided by such a madman as his pupil, 
and then prudently betook himself to flight. 

When the New York convention ordered the or- 
ganization of a battery of artillery, Hamilton 
sought the command. He was now but nineteen 
years of age, but a rigid technical examination dis- 
closed his familiarity with that difficult arm, and 
he received the appointment. By the excellence 
of his drill he won the admiration of General 
Greene. This distinguished officer introduced the 
young artillerist to Washington, to whom subse- 
quently he was to render services inestimable. At 
the disastrous battle of Long Island with great 
courage he aided to cover the retreat, and to save 
the patriot army. At White Plains he won further 
renown by the admirable manner in which he han- 
dled his guns. He volunteered to recover Fort 
Washington by storm. In the painful marching and 



1 56 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

countermarching of the patriots through New 
Jersey he was ever present. He shared in the vic- 
tory over the Hessians at Trenton, and at Prince- 
ton with his veteran command, now reduced to 
twenty-five gunners, he upheld his reputation as a 
brilliant and gallant artillerist. 

His literary reputation had now become widely 
known. He now seemed to be far more valuable 
on the staff than in the line. This with his proven 
excellence in the profession of arms led, on March 
i, 1777, to his promotion to the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel, when he was barely twenty years old. He 
was now appointed as one of Washington's aides. 
Henceforward and almost to the end of the Revo- 
lutionary struggle, in the words of his friend the 
gallant Laurens of South Carolina, he "held the 
pen of Junius for Washington's army." 

I must not omit to mention that we find in Ham- 
ilton's life confirmation strong of that popular con- 
viction, especially among the better half of hu- 
manity, that the greatest men are ever the most 
susceptible to the influence of feminine charms. 
When in 1779, Washington after Saratoga had 
sent his young officer to request reinforcements 
from General Horatio Gates, Hamilton had met 
at Albany an apparition altogether more agree- 
able than that doughty and self-satisfied warrior. 
This was Miss Elizabeth Schuyler. This charm- 
ing woman was the daughter of the friend of 
Washington, the distinguished general of that 
name. The acquaintance was renewed in the 
spring of 1780 and ripened into an engagement. 
The marriage was not unreasonably delayed. 
Hamilton was now connected with one of those 
famous Dutch families, of a race whose indomit- 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 157 

able courage reclaimed their beloved Fatherland 
from the waves of the North Sea, whose irresist- 
ible passion for civil and religious liberty had also 
expelled from its borders the merciless and intol- 
erant bigots of a cruel and alien race. Our coun- 
try owes much to the fighting strain of those brave 
Hollanders, and will doubtless continue, for some 
time to come, to profit from their passion for prac- 
tical and effective statecraft, and their native in- 
stinct for the construction of works of irrigation, 
and the excavation of canals. 

Time forbids that I should give further narra- 
tive of the military record of the young officer who 
became America's greatest constructive statesman. 
But the closing scene should not be forgotten by 
his patriotic young countrymen. It was at York- 
town. It had been determined by Washington to 
carry by assault two of the British redoubts from 
which had flamed an enfilading fire on the allied 
entrenchments. Two columns of attack were 
formed. The one a regiment of French grena- 
diers, which had for long borne the proud title 
"Auvergne without stain." The other was a de- 
tachment of Americans commanded by LaFayette, 
who had given the honor of leading the advance 
to his own aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Gimat. 
This wounded the military pride of Hamilton, 
whose tour of duty it was. He instantly protested 
to Washington, who directed that he should, as 
was his right, command both columns of assault. 
At eight o'clock in the evening, when the rockets 
flared the signal, the forlorn hope instantly swarm- 
ed to the attack. The royal regiments of France 
waited for the sappers to remove the abatis, while 
Hamilton's veteran bush-fighters, in rough and 



158 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

tumble style, pulled down the abatis themselves. 
First to mount was Hamilton himself. Placing 
one foot on the shoulder of a soldier who knelt on 
one knee for the purpose, sword in hand he sprang 
over the parapet. Instantly his veterans dashed 
headlong after him, and without firing a shot turn- 
ed out the British with the bayonet's point. The 
gallant Frenchmen with much heavier loss were 
also successful. 

It is interesting to reflect that this was Wash- 
ington's as it was Hamilton's last battle. It was 
now a quarter of a century since the patriot com- 
mander had written to his brother after his first 
fight, "I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, 
there is something charming in the sound." "He 
would not say so," said George the Second, "if 
he had been used to hear many." No bad judge of 
such matters, was this dapper little King George. 
Thackeray, in his charming lectures, tells us that he 
had a famous spirit of his own and fought like a 
Trojan. He called out his brother of Prussia with 
sword and pistol, and a duel was only prevented 
by the representations, made to the two, of the 
European laughter which would have been caused 
by such a transaction. "At Dettingen his horse 
ran away with him, and with difficulty was stopped 
from carrying him into the French lines. The 
King dismounted from the fiery quadruped, said 
bravely, Wow / know I shall not run away,' and 
placing himself at the head of the foot, drew his 
sword, brandishing it at the whole French army, 
and calling out to his own men to come on, in bad 
English, butwiththe most famouspluck and spirit." 

On public festivals he always appeared in the 
hat and coat he wore on the famous day of 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 159 

Oudenarde, and the people laughed, but kindly, at 
the odd old garment, "for bravery," wrote the 
kindly satirist, "never goes out of fashion." 

It is probable that the contemporary monarchs 
of the House of Hanover always underestimated 
the fighting spirit of the great Virginian, or per- 
haps amid the smiles and cajolements of their fat 
and lean mistresses they did not trouble themselves 
to think of him at all; forgetting perhaps how his 
riflemen with terrible loss, desperately fighting 
from every tree and log, protected the shattered 
remnant of Braddock's army from massacre and 
torture. Surely, the Third George did not know 
the man who, riding to take command at Cam- 
bridge, met the courier, and heard the great news 
how fifteen hundred minute-men of New England, 
with Starke and Prescott, Warren and Putnam, 
had obeyed orders, stood their ground, reserved 
their fire, and in the presence of anxious thousands 
in Boston, the roaring flames of Charlestown, the 
thunders of the enemy's fleet, and the deadly fire 
of the crack regiments of the King, before their 
slender works were carried, had shot down a thou- 
sand and fifty-four, or one-third of the attacking 
column. The King did not hear the Virginian 
planter as those firm lips exclaimed, "The liberties 
of our country are safe." Long Island, White 
Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Mon- 
mouth, and other stricken fields, where the red- 
coats of King George and his own "ragged Con- 
tinentals yielding not" had met in the shock of bat- 
tle, were all now behind him. He was now at the 
fruition of his hopes, and to the last he maintained 
the intense, but calm, intrepidity in hours of ex- 
tremest moment which has ever marked our great- 



i6o ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

est military leaders. As Hamilton's command 
advanced to storm the redoubts, Washington had 
dismounted, and had taken his stand in the grand 
battery with Generals Knox and Lincoln and their 
staffs. As the columns swept on, he watched them 
through an embrasure. One of his aides sug- 
gested that his situation was very exposed. "If 
you think so," he coldly replied, "you are at lib- 
erty to step back." A musket-ball struck the can- 
non in the embrasure, rolled along it and fell at 
his feet. General Knox grasped his arm. "My 
dear General," exclaimed his friend, "we cannot 
spare you yet." "It is a spent ball," replied Wash- 
ington quietly, "no harm is done." When all was 
over and the redoubts were taken, he drew a long 
breath, turned to Knox and said, "The work is 
done and well done! } Five days later the British 
army marched mournfully from their works with 
slow and solemn steps, and colors cased, their 
drums thumping out, and their fifes wailing an 
old-time air, entitled, "The World Turned Up- 
side Down," and grounded their arms. The coun- 
try gave way to transports of joy. Lord George 
Germaine was the first to carry the news to Lord 
North, the Prime Minister of King George, at his 
office in Downing Street. "And how did he take 
it," was inquired. "As he would have taken a ball 
in the breast," was the reply. 

It is interesting to recall that at Yorktown Ham- 
ilton no longer belonged to Washington's military 
family. The incident which occasioned the separa- 
tion had occurred on the 18th of the previous Feb- 
ruary. It is described by Hamilton himself in a 
letter to his father-in-law, General Schuyler. "An 
unexpected change," writes Hamilton, "has taken 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 161 

place in my situation. I am no longer a member 
of the General's family. This information will 
surprise you, and the manner of the change will 
surprise you more. Two days ago the General 
and I passed each other on the stairs; he told me 
he wanted to speak to me. I answered I would 
wait on him immediately. I went below and de- 
livered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the 
commissary, containing an order of a pressing and 
interesting nature. Returning to the General, I 
was stopped on the way by the Marquis de La- 
Fayette, and we conversed maybe about a minute 
on a matter of business. He can testify how im- 
patient I was to get back, and that I left him in a 
manner which but for our intimacy would have 
been more than abrupt. Instead of finding the 
General, as is usual, in his room, I met him at the 
head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry 
tone, 'Colonel Hamilton,' said he, 'you have kept 
me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten min- 
utes; I must tell you, sir, you treat me with disre- 
spect.' I replied withoutpetulancy, but with decision, 
T am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have 
thought it necessary to tell me so, we part.' 'Very 
well, sir,' said he, 'if it be your choice,' or some- 
thing to this effect, and we separated. I sincerely 
believe my absence which gave so much umbrage 
did not last ten minutes." 

^ The exquisite judgment and profound magna- 
nimity of Washington was not ruffled by the punc- 
tilios of his young friend. An ordinary man would 
have resented Hamilton's immovable refusal to 
accept an accommodation. Notwithstanding this, 
Washington determined at once to retain in the 
service of the country that astonishing capacity, 



1 62 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

"formed for all parts, and in all alike shining 
variously great." We have seen how just he was 
to Hamilton at Yorktown. The truth is the great 
Virginian loved him like a son. It is indeed prob- 
able that no man ever surpassed Hamilton in his 
power to gain the affectionate devotion of very 
great men. "He was evidently," said one of his 
most engaging biographers, "very attractive, and 
must have possessed a great charm of manners, 
address, and conversation, but the real secret was 
that he loved his friends and so they loved him. 
All his comrades on the staff and all the officers 
young and old who knew him, and were not hostile 
to Washington, loved him and were proud of his 
talents. The same was true of the young French 
officers with whom he was much thrown, on ac- 
count of his perfect command of their language, 
a very rare accomplishment in the colonies. To 
these attributes we may ascribe that personal fol- 
lowing in after years, which for culture, force of 
character, lofty ability, and devotion to his leader- 
ship, are surely unsurpassed in American political 
history." 

It is incontestable that in the practical applica- 
tion of the science of government, the educative 
results of Hamilton's duties as military secretary 
were most potential. His persuasive and construc- 
tive powers were now to be trained for years in 
the salvation of an unorganized people, and the 
making of a nation. That Washington is himself 
entitled to the substantial credit for the enormous 
correspondence which had emanated from his 
headquarters during the war cannot be fairly de- 
nied. It was he who directed the movements of 
armies, who protested against the incapacity of 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 163 

officers, native and alien, and who baffled the 
schemes of those vile and envious marplots who 
would detract from the just renown of every man 
who, through motives their infinitesimal natures 
cannot embrace, yet labor for the happiness of the 
people and the betterment of their times; who im- 
parted to Congress an account of his necessities, 
and who as unceasingly urged upon that body the 
performance of its duty. Indeed, to the Continen- 
tal Army, as to the Continental Congress, Wash- 
ington's relation, when contrasted with that of 
other great generals in command, is at once iso- 
lated and unique. 

A Caesar might rely with confidence upon those 
legions the thunder of whose tread was heard from 
the plains of Parthia to the mists of Caledonia. 
Cromwell, from a devout God-fearing and tyrant- 
hating people, had trained an army whose backs 
the brilliant Macaulay declares "no foeman had 
ever seen." This moved at the command of that 
imperial voice whose mandate at once arrested the 
depredations of the Lybian pirates and quenched 
the avenging fires of Rome. The Great Frederick 
might be driven to coin the silver chandeliers in 
his palaces in Berlin and Potsdam, but the last 
thaler of a united, devoted, and warlike people 
was at the command of the last of the great Kings. 
At Austerlitz or Jena the fierce enthusiasm of the 
French Revolution, the passion for military glory 
of the French people, and the wealth of the Em- 
pire were instantly responsive to Napoleon's or- 
der or decree. Behind the armies of Wellington 
were the constantly increasing wealth, and irresist- 
ible sea power of the British people. On his lines 
at Torres Vedras, or his formation at Salamanca 



1 64 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

the cartridge-boxes of his troops might be refilled 
and their rations supplied as regularly as at Lon- 
don or Chatham. Of these essentials of success- 
ful war, Washington had little or nothing. In- 
deed, from the Declaration of Independence to 
the Treaty of Peace, the influence and constancy 
of Washington was the Government itself. 

After Yorktown the country was at the period 
of its greatest debility. We were now living un- 
der the Articles of Confederation, which had gone 
into theoretical operation on the ist of March, 
178 1. These were soon seen to be less effective 
than the undefined powers of the Continental Con- 
gress. Both Hamilton and Washington had fore- 
seen their impotency. In his famous letter to 
Duane written the previous year, Hamilton had 
declared of this "Firm League of Friendship," as 
it was self-styled, "It is defective and requires to 
be altered." After this moderate criticism he 
adds: "It is neither fit for war nor peace. The 
idea of an uncontrollable sovereignty in each 
State will defeat the powers given to Congress 
and make our Union feeble and precarious." The 
unbroken testimony of men who lived in that day 
verifies the forecast of Washington's marvelous 
aide-de-camp. 

I may add that the United States of America 
during this period had no Executive, and barring 
a "Prize Court of Appeals," as it was termed, 
which had no power or process to enforce its de- 
crees; no judiciary, and not a dollar to pay a judge 
or juror. Finally that sole tribunal representing 
the judiciary of the United States, informed the 
moribund Congress, that its duties were com- 
pleted, and the court might as well dissolve. How 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 165 

far this report was ascribable to the fact that no 
sustentation was afforded the judges from the 
empty coffers of the Confederation, we have no 
precise information. The Congress, however, 
promptly replied to the effect that the public in- 
terests required that the judges should retain their 
jurisdiction and exercise their authority, but with- 
out any salaries. With amiable self-abnegation 
the judges then withdrew their resignations, and 
we may trust continued to survive. Perhaps 
Thomas Jefferson had this precedent in mind, 
when some years later he declared of the Federal 
judges, "few die and none resign." 

The debility of the Government was daily more 
alarming. Finally the Congress of the Confedera- 
tion, which had at least on one occasion depended 
upon the sprinting excellence of its membership 
to escape personal and condign chastisement at 
the hands of unpaid and mutinous troops, deemed 
it the part of discretion to silently and informally 
disband. The French Minister now wrote to his 
Government, u There is now in America no general 
government, neither President nor head of any one 
administrative department." In the mean time, 
Washington had performed his last public act un- 
der the Revolutionary government. This was his 
formal resignation as commander-in-chief of the 
American army. He bade farewell to his troops 
and broke up their encampment at Newburgh on 
the Hudson. He had, on the eighth anniversary 
of the Lexington fight, announced to his army the 
joyful prospect of a certain peace. It was now 
November. He had been concerned for several 
days with the British evacuation of New York, 
and at a tavern near Whitehall Ferry he gave an 



1 66 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

affectionate farewell to his officers, grasping each 
silently by the hand. It was not until the 23d day 
of December that his resignation was delivered to 
Congress, and Mifflin, the president of that body, 
as he received the parchment, exclaimed: "You 
retire from the theater of action with the blessings 
of your fellow-citizens, but the glory of your vir- 
tues will not terminate with your military com- 
mand; it will continue to animate remotest ages." 
The great man now retired to that colonial home 
on the romantic eminence where the placid tides 
of the Potomac lave its Virginia shore, and hard 
by the sacred spot where his ashes now repose, 
forever hallowed by the love and devotion of in- 
creasing millions of his grateful countrymen. But 
the charms of Mount Vernon could not banish 
from the mind of Washington the urgent necessi- 
ties of his country. He saw John Adams, our first 
Minister to the Court of St. James, welcomed in- 
deed by his first visitor, the noble and venerable 
Oglethorpe, the founder of our own State, but 
treated with surly and contemptuous indifference 
by George the Third, who publicly turned his back, 
and by the British ministry, who sent no ambassa- 
dor in return. He knew that when the American 
commissioners attempted to negotiate a commer- 
cial treaty with Great Britain they were contemp- 
tuously asked whether they had credentials from 
the separate States. He knew that the public debt 
could not be paid or funded, that the interest even 
could not be met; that no taxes could be collected; 
that if there should be an attempt to coerce a State 
to pay its assessment, it meant inevitable civil war 
and disintegration; that the best securities rated at 
times as low as fifteen per cent; that at home and 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 167 

abroad our country was disreputable; that Great 
Britain yet refused to surrender her Western posts, 
confessedly within the boundaries fixed by the 
Treaty of Peace; that Spain, who for long thwart- 
ed the recognition of our independence, and ever 
the insidious enemy of America, holding the 
mouth of the Mississippi, was striving to withdraw 
the allegiance of our people west of the Alleghen- 
ies; that the Atlantic coast from the Bay of Fundy 
to the River St. Mary was cut up between thirteen 
independent States, each with its own revenue laws 
and collection methods; that interstate tariffs were 
alienating the American commonwealths, and that 
Connecticut taxed Massachusetts imports higher 
than British. The General heard the plaints of 
his intrepid comrades, who had faltered not amid 
the floating ice of the Delaware, the Hessian vol- 
leys at Trenton, the agonies of cold and hunger at 
Valley Forge, the sweltering heat of Monmouth, 
who at last had stormed the British entrench- 
ments at Yorktown, and now without pay or pen- 
sions had sorrowfully repaired to homes of penury 
and distress. Is it surprising, then, that the Father 
of his Country, and many who thought with him, 
determined that America should have a govern- 
ment worthy of the glories of its past, commen- 
surate with the necessities of the hour, and suffi- 
cient for the exigencies of the future? 

In the mean time, after Yorktown, Hamilton 
had resigned his commission, and had left the 
army to take up the study of law. More than a 
year before Yorktown, he had written to a mem- 
ber of Congress from New York: "We must at 
all events have a vigorous confederation, if we 
mean to succeed in the contest and be happy there- 



1 68 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

after. Internal policies should be regulated by 
the legislatures. Congress should have complete 
sovereignty in all that relates to war, peace, trade, 
finance, foreign affairs, armies, fleets, fortifications, 
coining money, establishing banks, imposing a land 
tax, poll tax, duties on trade and the unoccupied 
lands." The foreknowledge of the evolution of 
our government by the young staff officer will seem 
to rival prophecy itself. This remarkable letter 
was written from his tent while the writer was sur- 
rounded by the ragged and hungry soldiers of 
Washington. From the same environment he 
wrote to Robert Morris discussing his scheme for 
a national bank. These incidents exhibit at once 
his indomitable love of work, and his irresistible 
disposition towards broad concerns of statecraft 
and national polity. 

After a few months' preparation, Hamilton 
was admitted to the bar in the summer of 1782. 
Of course, he had little time for study, but in after 
years it was found that all the law he had acquired 
had been condensed in a brief manual in manu- 
script, which became serviceable to many others, 
who did not possess his original powers of logic 
and reasoning. 

It does not appear that his profession was im- 
mediately productive. He had, indeed, the habit 
of charging very small fees. He was soon ap- 
pointed receiver of continental taxes for the State 
of New York, and November, 1782, was elected 
to the decrepit Congress. At once, but with little 
hope, he grappled with the desperate condition of 
affairs. In vain did he attempt to secure legisla- 
tion for duties on imports. In vain he struggled 
to prevent the disbandment of that gallant army, 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 169 

described by LaFayette as the most patient to be 
found in the world. The pageant of State Sov- 
ereignty sent them home with nothing but their 
hangers and spontoons, their rifles and muskets. 
In vain he urged the organization of a regular 
force which might become the nucleus of future 
armies. When State Sovereignty was through 
with the National defense, the army of the United 
States was found to consist of eighty mercenaries. 

It is not then surprising that Hamilton's dis- 
position toward forceful and effective organic law 
was immensely strengthened. The inanition and 
imbecility of scarecrow government, tolerated by 
the selfishness, suspicion, and inertia of thirteen 
unconnected States, drove him to the side of Wash- 
ington, as faithful, as devoted, and as indomitable 
as at Valley Forge and Trenton, at Monmouth 
and Yorktown. 

Now for the first time, he takes active part in 
the formation of the Constitution. Seizing the 
occasion of the abortive convention at Annapolis, 
he drafts an appeal for a new convention, which 
throughout the country is read everywhere. Se- 
curing an election to the legislature of New York, 
with the utmost difficulty he induces the election 
of delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 
May 8,1787. In that body he is the minoritv dele- 
gate from his State. There he contents himself 
with one great speech, which Gouverneur Morris 
declared the ablest and most impressive he ever 
heard. The synopsis of this great argument is 
preserved, and it sets forth those profound medita- 
tions upon the science of government which have 
been to him habitual from boyhood itself. In 
favor of strong government, it is far in advance 



1 7 o ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

of the views of the convention, but it is as it is in- 
tended to be, highly educative. Certain of its 
principles, while startling to the convention then, 
to the American people of to-day are as familiar 
as household words. His colleagues, saturated with 
opposition, leaving the convention, he does not 
hesitate to sign the Constitution for New York. 

To frame the Constitution was a difficult task, 
but to secure its adoption by the people is more 
difficult still. The story is familiar how he and 
Madison and Jay devoted their facile and lucid 
pens, their exquisite powers of argument and or- 
ganization to the cause of the perpetual Union. 
Of Llamilton and Madison, who has been termed 
the "Father of the Constitution," it has been said 
that "the complement of two such minds was most 
auspicious for the country." They are both very 
young for such a mighty undertaking, but the 
serene wisdom of Washington, the silent watch- 
man, curbs the fervid energy of the one and en- 
courages the dispassionate, clear-sighted and per- 
suasive powers of the other. In successive num- 
bers the "Federalist" is published. Aside from the 
great decisions of John Marshall and the mighty 
judges who held with him, to this day, it is the best 
and most satisfactory exposition of the mischiefs 
the Constitution was intended to cure, the elastic 
and all-sufficient remedies which it affords. Nor 
is it without the proud elation of Americanism, we 
reflect, that when the victorious Princes of the great 
Teutonic race, intent on the formation of the Ger- 
man Empire, assembled in the Hall of Mirrors 
at Versailles, to the "Federalist" their juriscon- 
sults turned, as to the most comprehensive treatise 
on the principles of federal government. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 171 

But the literary rank attained by Hamilton in 
these great papers, great as they were, does not 
afford such manifestation of astonishing power as 
his part in the debate in the New York convention. 
Here the opponents of the Constitution under the 
leadership of Clinton, Governor of the State, have 
fort)f-six out of sixty-five votes. The majority is 
led by Melancthon Smith, no mean debater him- 
self. There also are Yates and Lansing, who had 
been Hamilton's colleagues in the constitutional 
convention. The minority of nineteen have for its 
leaders Hamilton, Livingston, and Jay. "Two- 
thirds of the convention and four-sevenths of the 
people are against us," Hamilton declares. 

The work of the convention and every clause 
and paragraph of the Constitution is scrutinized 
and assailed, with all the bitterness a venomous 
and hypercritical majority can suggest. Hamilton 
himself is constantly assailed as if he, and not the 
Constitution, is the object of attack. The sessions 
of the constitutional convention had been secret, 
and Hamilton is familiar with every detail. He 
comes to the debate as from a rehearsal. When it 
is all over it is again seen, in the words of Wash- 
ington at Yorktown, that "the work is done and 
well done." The opponents of the Constitution 
dare not come to a direct vote. This suits the 
Federalists, who know that time is working for 
them. Nine States have ratified, and presently 
comes the news that the Old Dominion, the State 
of Washington, had also assented. Perceiving 
their defeat, the opponents propose a long string 
of amendments and a conditional ratification. So 
brilliant is the reply of Hamilton to these meas- 
ures, that Melancthon Smith himself confesses that 



1 72 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

conditional ratification is absurd, and then admits 
that he has been convinced by Hamilton, and that 
he will vote for the Constitution. The Constitu- 
tion has won. 

The victory of Hamilton was epochal. As a 
parliamentary victory it has rarely been equalled. 
In open debate upon clearly marked party lines he 
has overcome and won over a hostile majority. 
Mr. Bancroft declares that as a debater he was 
the superior of William Pitt, the famous son of 
that more famous Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. We 
may well believe that he had little if any familiarity 
with the masterpieces of Greek and Roman orators 
and poets which afforded an incomparable training 
and equipment to such men as Pitt and Fox, 
Macaulay and Gladstone. Nor did he possess the 
musical and irresistible eloquence found in the 
native wood-notes wild of Patrick Henry. It 
could not be said of him, as Grattan said of Chat- 
ham, that he "resembled sometimes the thunder 
and sometimes the music of the spheres," but in 
crystal clearness he was unsurpassed. No man 
could misunderstand his meaning, and behind this 
there were qualities which touched the deepest 
springs of the human heart. Many eye-witnesses 
testified that Hamilton moved his audience to 
tears. It was the passionate fervor of his con- 
victions, the profound consciousness of his au- 
dience that he paid them the high tribute of an 
appeal to the deepest and purest sources of their 
patriotism. Reasonable differences he dispelled 
by the illuminative processes of his mind. Im- 
movable hostility he destroyed by the concen- 
trated flame of reason's whitest heat. 

When the new government is formed, and the 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 173 

Department is created, he is at once appointed by 
Washington as the first Secretary of the Treasury. 
In ten days he is directed by the new Congress to 
prepare and report upon the public credit. That 
this involves his whole financial policy does not 
prevent that body from requesting him to report 
also full details for the raising, management, and 
collection of the revenue, for revenue cutters, for 
estimates of income and expenditure, for the tem- 
porary regulation of the currency, for navigation 
laws and the regulation of the coasting trade, for 
the proper management of the public lands, upon 
all claims against the Government, and for the 
purchase of West Point. With the utmost celerity 
the young Secretary disposes of all these matters, 
and, in addition, voluntarily suggests a scheme for 
a judicial system. 

He obtains money for the immediate necessities 
of the Government, sometimes pledging his own 
credit, and then devises the vast financial machin- 
ery of the Treasury Department, and the system 
of accounting which in efficient principle survives 
to the present time. 

The ineffaceable impression he makes is in the 
early days of our legislative history. In his first 
great report on the public credit he announces prin- 
ciples, which when observed have been rewarded 
with a national prosperity such as the world has 
never known, but when, for the hour, avoided, the 
punishment as swiftly comes in bankruptcy, dis- 
aster, panic, and dismay. His entire system is 
based upon the most scrupulous unvarying honor 
in the discharge of national obligations. In his 
own language he expresses it all, "to justify and 
preserve the confidence of the most enlightened 



i 7 4 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

friends of good government; to promote the in- 
creasing respectability of the American name; to 
answer the calls of justice; to restore landed prop- 
erty to its due value; to cement more closely the 
union of the States; to add to their security against 
foreign attack; to establish public order on the 
basis of an upright and liberal policy — these are 
the great and invaluable ends to be secured by a 
proper and adequate provision for the support of 
public credit." 

It is obviously impossible upon an occasion like 
this to discuss even the principal topics of those 
momentous concerns, to which Hamilton's original 
and constructive powers were successively devoted. 
It will suffice to say that his report on manufac- 
tures is the first, and by many believed to be the 
greatest, argument ever made in maintenance of 
the principle and the wisdom of protection of the 
manufactured products of the American people 
against injurious competition from other lands. 
It was instantly declared by Jefferson, his great 
rival, to be designed "to grasp for Congress con- 
trol of all matters which they should deem for the 
public welfare and which were susceptible of the 
application of money." His second report urging 
the establishment of an excise tax is the basis of 
the internal revenue system. The national bank- 
ing is Hamilton's. His great argument on a na- 
tional bank, evoking for the first time the implied 
powers of the Constitution, hurriedly prepared 
amid the multitudinous and laborious duties of his 
station, will ever cause men to accord to him, 
among his other amazing powers, a high place in 
the front rank of the profession of the law. Here 
for the first time is discovered the clear, but seem- 
ingly unfathomed, depths of that well-spring of 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 175 

national authority which has sustained the pur- 
poses of the nation to enact any and all laws, which 
may at home at once make effective the letter of 
the organic law, and advance the welfare of the 
American people, and abroad, to give to the just, 
righteous, and beneficial conclusions of American 
civilization, expressed by American administra- 
tion, supported by the moral, and if need be the 
physical influence of the great Republic, the force 
and effect of international law. 

It is true that this doctrine of Hamilton and his 
followers, to use the simile of Jefferson on an- 
other portentous occasion, was "like a fire bell in 
the night." To write the history of the resulting 
struggles over this basic principle of the national 
existence, as parties reeled and staggered in the 
conflicts of the forum or in the deadlier conflicts 
of the field, would be to write the history of the 
country since that time; but that Hamilton was 
right and eternally right will no longer admit of 
serious discussion. To deny it would be to sweep 
from the statute books the entire criminal juris- 
diction of the United States courts. Blot from the 
American system the Hamiltonian doctrine of the 
Implied Powers, and the fame of our jurisprudence 
would wither and perish like Jonah's gourd. The 
public buildings which house our officials and pro- 
tect our^ records, the forts and batteries on our 
boundaries, the friendly lights which guide the 
mariner, the granitic walls of the great locks on 
the Great Lakes, through whose portals float in 
safety a tonnage greater and more profitable than 
that which rides over the waves of ocean, the stu- 
pendous works at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
the incessant clanking of those gigantic engines 
now cutting an inter-oceanic path for the maritime 



1 76 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

commerce of the world, these and much more like 
these would be but the successive monuments of an 
usurping government, and a lawless, and therefore 
a decadent people. Whether it be for an appro- 
priation to maintain a range light, or to relieve 
the agonized people of a city whose homes have 
crumbled by the upheaval of the earthquake and 
the horrid sweep of the conflagration, all is trace- 
able to that source of governmental authority for- 
ever residing in the implied powers of the Con- 
stitution. Hamilton had seen and known the con- 
dition of our country when it seemed, in the lan- 
guage of Washington, that it would resolve itself 
into the ''withered fragments of empire." With 
his illustrious compatriots, he educated Patrick 
Henry's three millions "armed in the holy cause 
of liberty," and their children, to the knowledge 
that all liberty is worthless save liberty under the 
law, and effective law. He now saw the roseate 
blush of the nation's dawn. It enchanted his pre- 
scient and prophetic vision. Well might he have 
exclaimed as did old Sam Adam, when the shot 
of the embattled farmers rang out on that memor- 
able April dawn so many years before, "Oh, what 
a glorious morning is this!" But, alas, that 

"Base envy that withers at another's joy, 
And hates the excellence it cannot reach," 

should so soon mark him for its own. 

For two years more than a century, the mortal 
remains of this great man have rested in the 
churchyard of old Trinity. Millions of his coun- 
trymen, on crowded Broadway, annually pass in 
a few feet of the spot where his ashes repose. The 
small city where he labored, and lived, and died, 
has become one of the greatest on earth. Gigantic 



i\LEXANDER HAMILTON 177 

structures devoted to the trade, commerce, trans- 
portation, and banking of the world, to which his 
genius imparted so much, tower above the grace- 
ful spires of the old church and cast theirshad- 
ows over the sward where the forefathers of the 
city and of the nation sleep. Across the way in 
a short and narrow street the wealth of this and 
other nations is concentered for the service and 
for the advancement of every interest of a mighty 
people. The trains, laden with their human 
freight, thunder hard by the lonely grave, or rum- 
ble in subways far beneath its level. The beauti- 
ful river across which so many years ago he went 
to meet his mortal enemy, and his fate, sends forth 
year after year bread to feed nations, whose names 
the sleeper never heard, the manufactured neces- 
sities of life, of which the sleeper never dreamed. 
Not inappropriate, then, is his resting-place. Yet 
magnificent as are the environments of his grave, 
to this map who "thought continentally" there 
may be a vision nobler by far. It is in the happy 
homes of eighty millions of American people, a 
people whose domain stretches from the tropical 
frondage of Porto Rico to Alaska's frozen strand; 
from the granitic shores of Maine, to that won- 
drous archipelago of the Orient, where but lately 
the guns of our gallant squadron proclaimed that 
the genius of American civilization had come to 
stay. And if, as we fondly trust, the souls of 
those we love, who precede us, are permitted to 
welcome and to know those who follow, may it 
not be true, after all of life is over, that the young 
comrade and compatriot heard, as at Yorktown, 
the words, "The work is done and well done," 
from the majestic voice of the Father of his 
Country. 




FACING PAGE 179 



JOHN MARSHALL* 

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 

Of the Honorable Robert Falligant, Judge of the 
Superior Court of Chatham County, on the occa- 
sion of its delivery at Savannah, Ga.: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: 

"This occasion should be one of deep impress 
to every patriotic American. We are here to do 
homage to the character, ability, and illustrious 
services of the greatest of Chief Justices of the 
Supreme Court of the United States upon the cen- 
tennial of his accession to that high and dignified 
office. The Bench and Bar of the country unite 
this day with the people all over the land in univer- 
sal acclaim of Chief Justice John Marshall. 

"A great English statesman said, 'The Ameri- 
can Constitution is the most wonderful work ever 
struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose 
of man.' John Marshall became and was the 
great expounder of its dormant and far reaching 
powers. 'He helped to achieve independence by 
his sword in his youth, and in his manhood created 
a nation by his judicial pen.' Of him it has been 
felicitously said, 'Marshall found the Constitu- 
tion paper and made it a power; he found it a 
skeleton and clothed it with flesh and blood.' 



*Delivered on the Centenary of the accession of Chief Jus- 
tice Marshall to the Supreme Court of the United States, in 
the District Court room, at Savannah, Georgia, February 4th, 
1901 ; and subsequently, as one of the Lectures on the Storrs 
Foundation, at New Haven, Connecticut, May, 1906. 

179 



180 JOHN MARSHALL 

"Those familiar with our earlier history recall 
the intensity of party passion perhaps fiercer than 
at any other period. When the great constitu- 
tional decisions were pronounced, which are the 
foundation of Marshall's imperishable fame, an- 
other great Virginia patriot and thinker, Thomas 
Jefferson, read them with consternation. Jealous 
of the reserved rights of the States he wrote, 'The 
germ of the dissolution of our Federal Govern- 
ment is in the constitution of the Federal judiciary, 
an irresponsible party working like gravity by 
night and by day, gaining a little to-day and a lit- 
tle to-morrow and advancing its noiseless step like 
a thief over the field of jurisdiction until all shall 
be usurped from the States and the government 
of all be consolidated into one/ 

"The political history of our country was con- 
stantly agitated by conflicting constitutional inter- 
pretations. Some were settled by that august tri- 
bunal the Supreme Court, which Marshall regarded 
the final arbiter, but others remained burning ques- 
tions until the fires were quenched in patriot blood 
and a final decision rendered in the awful arbitra- 
ment of the fiercest and most prolonged civil war 
the world has known. 

"It was said of an ancient hero, 'Ulysses has 
gone upon his travels and there is none in Ithaca 
can bend his bow.' 

"This was never true of America. In all crises 
of her history men have arisen to fill and illustrate 
the full measure of their country's greatness. Since 
the days of Marshall no justice of the Supreme 
Court has been regarded by the Bench and Bar of 
the country as more able than the late Associate 
Justice Samuel F. Miller. In the light of Jeffer- 



JOHN MARSHALL 181 

son's prophetic words it is well to recall what 
Associate Justice Miller said on the occasion of 
the Centennial of the Constitution of the United 
States. Our country had but recently emerged 
from the supreme test of the most colossal and 
titanic struggle of history. As the mouthpiece of 
the Supreme Court he said: 

" 'May it be long before such an awful lesson 
is again needed to decide upon disputed questions 
of constitutional law. It is not out of place to re- 
mark that while the pendulum of public opinion 
was swung with much force away from the ex- 
treme point of States-right doctrine, there may be 
danger of its reaching the extreme point on the 
other side. In my opinion the just and equal ob- 
servance of the rights of the States and of the 
General Government, as defined by the present 
Constitution, is as necessary to the permanent pros- 
perity of our country and to its existence for an- 
other century, as it has been for the one whose 
close we are now celebrating.' 

"I must apologize for this brief glance at a 
great past because I know you are eagerly awaiting 
the thrilling touch of a master hand. The man 
and the occasion meet in a brilliant and distin- 
guished Georgian; and I as a Georgian take pe- 
culiar pride and pleasure in introducing one whose 
fame is already national as a jurist, statesman, 
and orator, in the plenitude of his splendid intel- 
lectual culture and power and in all the glory of 
his matchless eloquence, the Hon. Emory Speer." 

ADDRESS OF JUDGE SPEER 

Of John Marshall William Pinckney exclaimed, 
u He was born to be the Chief Justice of any coun- 



1 82 JOHN MARSHALL 

try in which Providence should have cast him." 
Petigru of South Carolina declared, "The fame 
of the Chief Justice has justified the wisdom of the 
Constitution, and reconciled the jealousy of free- 
dom to the independence of the judiciary." His 
long and illustrious career inspired the pious dec- 
laration of Binney, "The Providence of God is 
shown most beneficently to the world in raising 
from time to time, and in crowning with length of 
days, men of preeminent goodness and wisdom." 
To the labors of this illustrious American and to 
what we may devoutly believe was the divinely 
ordered prescience of his mind, more than to all 
the utterance of statesmen living or dead, more 
than to all the eloquence which has "mastered, 
swayed, and moved the eminence of men's affec- 
tions," is to be ascribed the survival of American- 
ism, the existence of our mighty federated nation, 
and the lustre of those unfading stars in our coun- 
try's ensign, which in union indestructible will now 
forever shine. 

On the 24th of September, 1755, John Marshall 
was born in the beautiful county of Fauquier in 
Virginia. This county was nearly a century after- 
wards famous with the veterans of Lee as 
"Mosby's Confederacy." It is even now a coin- 
cidence, not without its interest, that children who 
gather there on the arrival of the train at the little 
station of Midland, may point the attention of the 
traveler to the crumbling ruin where first saw the 
light the mighty expounder of the great instrument 
of our Union, and by the handful will offer for 
sale the thickly strewn rifle-balls, there fired in the 
great war for its disruption. 

The father of the future Chief Justice was 



JOHN MARSHALL 183 

Thomas Marshall. He came from the celebrated 
county of Westmoreland, once referred to by a 
Governor of Virginia, with that State pride not 
yet wholly extinct in the sons of the Old Dominion, 
as "the prolific soil that grows Presidents." It is 
true that Washington, Madison, and Monroe all 
came from the county of that sturdy patriot, the 
father of the famous Chief Justice. Marshall, 
the father, was born the same year with Washing- 
ton. He was indeed the companion of the patriot 
commander, when the latter in after years sur- 
veyed for his friend Lord Fairfax the primeval 
wilderness, shading with its imperial frondage the 
fertile and picturesque valley of Virginia, and, 
like Washington, he also was one of the first to 
fly to arms, to resist the aggressions of the British 
Ministry. He was' successively colonel in the 
Third Virginia Infantry, Woodford's Brigade, 
and the First Virginia Artillery, in the Continental 
line. He fought with distinguished valor at Ger- 
mantown and Brandywine, having three horses 
killed under him, and largely through his skill and 
courage at Brandywine, the defeated Continental 
forces were enabled to extricate themselves from 
complete disaster. Two years after the Treaty 
of Peace, Colonel Marshall, with the younger 
members of his family, traversed the romantic 
passes of the westward mountains, and a leader 
among those tall and stark hunters who drove the 
savage from the "Dark and Bloody Ground," he 
built a new home in the "heart of the Bluegrass" 
in a now renowned county of Kentucky, which he 
named Woodford, in honor of the brigadier under 
whom in days past he had fought for independence. 
Of Marshall, the father, Justice Story recounts: 



1 84 JOHN MARSHALL 

"I have often heard the Chief Justice speak in 
terms of the deepest affection and reverence. I 
do not here refer to his public remarks, but to his 
private and familiar conversations with me, when 
there was no other listener. Indeed, he never 
named his father on these occasions without dwell- 
ing on his character with a fond and winning en- 
thusiasm. It was a theme on which he broke out 
with spontaneous eloquence, and in a spirit of the 
most persuasive confidence he would delight to 
expatiate upon his virtues and talents. 'My 
father,' would he say with kindred feelings and 
emphasis, 'my father was a far abler man than 
any of his sons. To him I owe the solid founda- 
tion of all my own success in life.' " O what filial 
love was this ! What testimony to the nobility of 
father and of son ! In all that makes for elevation 
of character, for breadth of thought, for courage- 
ous and conscientious manhood, the young Vir- 
ginian enjoyed a heritage more priceless than all 
the wealth accumulated by the greed of all the 
titled misers, 

"Whose ancient but ignoble blood 
Has crept through scoundrels since the flood." 

The mother of John Marshall belongs to that 
period in the society of the Old Dominion so de- 
lightfully portrayed by Thackeray in his "Virgin- 
ians." But we may safely conclude that, unlike the 
"Lady Esmonds" of her time, she did not in stately 
brocades or rustling silks glide through the mazes 
of the minuet, or prance with alacrity in the contra 
dance. She had other engagement. She was the 
mother of fifteen children, of whom the future 
Chief Justice was the eldest, and such was her 



JOHN MARSHALL 185 

solicitous care that she reared them all until they 
were grown and married. Had our observant 
President been the contemporary of that charm- 
ing Virginia dame, he might never have been 
affrighted by certain forebodings with which he has 
enlivened the apprehensions of his patriot coun- 
trymen. Her maiden name was Mary Isham 
Keith. Her father was an Episcopal minister, and 
a full cousin of that famous Field Marshal James 
Keith, perhaps the most renowned of the lieuten- 
ants of the Great Frederick. It has been said that 
great men get their greatness from the mother's 
side. Certain it is that in Carlyle's "Life of Fred- 
erick the Great" are recorded many traits of Field 
Marshal Keith which are clearly discernible in his 
American cousin. "He is a soldier of fortune, 
and, like the expatriated Scottish gentlemen of 
that day, offers his sword wherever he may have 
honorable service. Frederick attentively watches 
Keith while he is serving the Czar, and concludes 
that what he does is done in a solid, quietly emi- 
nent, and valiant manner." "Sagacious, skilful, 
imperturbable, without fear and without noise, a 
man quietly ever ready." Finally, nine years be- 
fore our Chief Justice is born, Keith's service with 
the Russians being ended, Frederick grasps eagerly 
at the Scottish soldier's offer to serve him. "Well 
worth talking to, though left very dim to us in the 
books,'' writes the same biographer, of a later pe- 
riod, "is Marshal Keith, who has been growing 
gradually with the King, and with everybody ever 
since he came to these parts in 1747. A man of 
Scotch type; the broad accent, with its sagacities, 
veracities, with its steadfastly fixed moderation, 
and its sly twinkles of defensive humor, is still 



1 86 JOHN MARSHALL 

audible to us through the foreign wrappages. Not 
given to talk, unless there is something to be said, 
but well capable of it then." John Marshall might 
have sat for that picture. All through the won- 
derful pages of this story of the last of the great 
Kings, this Scotch cousin of John Marshall is show- 
ing these Marshall traits. At the famed battle 
of Prague, fought May 6, 1757, which sounded 
throughout all the world in that day, and since 
then commemorated in a composition alleged to 
be musical, with which vigorous amateurs, mostly 
feminine, have belabored pianos and deafened 
mankind. All through that terrible Seven Years' 
War, until the bloody day at Hochkirch, where, 
having saved the Prussian Army, shot through the 
heart, "Keith's fightings are suddenly all done." 
"In Hochkirch Church," writes Carlyle, "there is 
still a fine, modestly impressive monument to 
Keith; modest urn of black marble on a pedestal 
of gray, and in gold letters an inscription," in 
Latin, which "goes through you like the clang of 
steel." But four months after his death, by royal 
order Keith's remains were conveyed to Berlin, 
and with all the honors and all the regrets were 
reinterred in the Garnison Kirche there, and the 
lament of the great Scotch writer is like the wail 
of the pibroch as it chants "Lochaber No More"; 
"Far from bonnie Inverugie; the hoarse sea winds 
and caverns of Dunottar singing vague requiem 
to his honorable line and him." "My brother 
leaves me a noble legacy," said the old Lord Mar- 
ischal. "Last year, he had Bohemia in ransom; 
and his personal estate is 70 ducats (about 25 
pounds)." "Frederick's sorrow over him is itself 
a monument. Twenty years after, Keith had from 



JOHN MARSHALL 187 

his master a statue, in Berlin, which still stands 
in the Wilhelm Platz there." 

Early evincing the power and saneness of his 
mind by a strong love of literature, it is said that 
the future Chief Justice at the age of twelve could 
recite a large portion of the writings of Pope, and 
was familiar with Dryden, Shakespeare, and Mil- 
ton. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the 
classical academy of the Messrs. Campbell, Scotch- 
men, who had established a famous school in 
Westmoreland County, where Washington and 
Munroe and many other famous Virginians had 
received instruction. 

At the age of eighteen he began the study of 
law, but was not long permitted to devote himself 
to the service of that jealous mistress. The war 
of the Revolution came, and the volunteers of Cul- 
peper, Orange, and Fauquier counties organized 
themselves into a regiment of minute-men. Walk- 
ing twenty miles to attend the first drill, his neigh- 
bors gave him the appointment of first lieutenant 
in one of the companies. The military career of 
the future Chief Justice was not brilliant, but it 
was marked by quiet endurance, active service and 
constant valor. He was personally engaged with 
his command at the bloody defeats of Brandy- 
wine and Germantown, at the scarcely less bloody, 
but partial victory, on that torrid and famous day 
at Monmouth, and, with the utmost loyalty to the 
patriot cause, went into winter quarters at Valley 
Forge, where also were his father and two broth- 
ers with Washington's starving and depleted army. 
The story of that memorable encampment is ra- 
diant with glory for our Revolutionary sires. The 
cold was intense, and yet the soldiers were often 



1 88 JOHN MARSHALL 

almost naked, and as a rule they were without 
shoes, so that they could be tracked by the blood 
from their frozen feet. A mess-mate of Marshall 
during this period was Lieutenant Phillip Slaugh- 
ter. He relates that his own supply of linen was 
one shirt, and that while having this washed, he 
wrapped himself in a blanket. All the while that 
renowned Prussian martinet, Baron Steuben, was 
drilling the Continental Army, and Slaughter had 
wristbands and a collar made from the bosom of 
his shirt to complete his uniform for parade. Had 
he been compelled to throw off his coat, like the 
vest of Porthos, when D'Artagnan, as recounted 
in Dumas' great story, jerked off his cloak, the 
undergarment, while sufficient in form, would have 
been lacking in substance. Of Marshall this com- 
rade writes affectionately: 

"He was the best tempered man I ever knew. 
During his sufferings at Valley Forge, nothing 
discouraged, nothing disturbed him. If he had 
only bread to eat, it was just as well; if only meat, 
it made no difference. If any of the officers mur- 
mured at the deprivations, he would shame them 
by his good-natured raillery, or encourage them 
by his own exuberance of spirits. He was an ex- 
cellent companion, and idolized by the soldiers and 
his brother officers, whose gloomy hours he en- 
livened by an inexhaustible fund of anecdote." 

Many Americans, great intellectually, have been 
noted for their athletic powers. Such a man was 
the famous Walter T. Colquitt of Georgia, who 
was as effective in the prize ring as in the pulpit, 
in the rough-and-tumble fight in the court-house 
and in the court-house square. Such another was 
Benjamin H. Hill, who in my judgment was never 



JOHN MARSHALL 189 

surpassed in the forum, on the stump, or in the 
Senate, and who as a wrestler would have been 
worthy of a place in the Olympic Games. The 
gigantic strength of Abraham Lincoln was well 
known. And young Marshall was no exception 
to men of this class. President Quincey relates 
that early in the century he heard Southern men in 
Washington declare that Marshall was the only 
man in Washington's army who could put a stick 
on the heads of two persons of his own height, 
six feet, and clear it at a running jump. In a foot 
race he was like the winged-footed Mercury, and 
as he ran in stocking feet, the soldiers bestowed 
upon him the affectionate nickname "Silver Heels" 
from the color of the yarn with which his good 
mother had finished the heel of his black stockings. 
It was at this period that he first began to show 
his judicial capacity and fairness of mind. He was 
constantly chosen by his brother*officers to decide 
their many disputes, and his judgments in writing 
were usually accompanied by such sound reasons 
that the irritable disputants were generally satis- 
fied. In addition to his service in the field, he was 
appointed Deputy Judge-Advocate of the Army, 
and thrown into close personal relations with 
Washington, won the enduring confidence and affec- 
tion of His Excellency. It appears, however, that 
the patriots had need for his services, other than 
judicial. He was promoted to a captaincy on the 
battlefield of Brandywine, and, as stated, fought 
at Monmouth, at Germantown, at Iron Hill, and 
Paulus Hook. He was a member of the party 
covering the forlorn hope, who under "Mad An- 
thony" Wayne swarmed up the precipitous height 
at Stony Point, and with the bayonet mastered en- 



1 9 o JOHN MARSHALL 

trenchments which the leaders of the British Army 
had deemed impregnable. That part of the Vir- 
ginia line to which he was attached being now mus- 
tered out, left without a command, the young offi- 
cer returned to Virginia to obtain service with the 
new levies from that State. Repairing to the old 
capital at Williamsburg to await the hesitating 
action of the State legislature, he seized the oppor- 
tunity to attend the law lectures delivered by the 
famous Chancellor Wythe of William and Mary 
College, and as a consequence, in the ensuing sum- 
mer, was enabled to obtain a license to practice 
law. 

We may not safely conclude that at this period 
of his young and vigorous life, it was all work and 
no play with the soldier student. At Williams- 
burg, according to a biographer of Jefferson, 
"there were cakes and ale in those days, young 
girls, and dancing at the Raleigh tavern, cards and 
horses; and the young Virginians had their full 
share of all these good things." Later in life he 
took wine only when it rained, but he was accus- 
tomed to remark to Justice Story that his judicial 
territory was so great, that although it might be 
clear at Washington, it must be raining somewhere 
in his jurisdiction. While reading law and enjoy- 
ing the halcyon days of youth, Marshall did not 
fail to make repeated efforts to again obtain serv- 
ice with the patriot forces, and with that hope ac- 
tually walked from Virginia to Philadelphia. The 
war, however, was about over. There was a re- 
dundancy of officers of the Virginia line, and no 
additional troops being raised, he was unwilling 
to remain longer a supernumerary, and in 1781 
the future Chief Justice resigned his commission, 



JOHN MARSHALL 191 

and entered upon the practice of the law in his na- 
tive county of Fauquier. The young lawyer rose 
rapidly at the bar. His success was steady and 
progressive. With a Keith-like modesty he as- 
cribed it to the friendship of his old comrades-in- 
arms, a soldierly attribute which in later days has 
contributed reward and renown, both legal and 
political, to some of our own contemporaries. 

The close of the Revolution was a fortunate 
period for the young practitioner. The changes 
of property, innumerable outstanding debts, con- 
tracts, and old controversies long delayed, were 
fruitful sources of litigation, profitable — at least 
to counsel. So remarkable was the success of Mar- 
shall, that after two years' practice in Fauquier and 
adjacent counties he had established a reputation, 
augmented by his distinguished services in the Vir- 
ginia Assembly, which justified him in removing 
his office to Richmond, where almost at once he 
took the lead among the renowned lawyers of that 
famous capital. And they were indeed foemen 
worthy of his steel. Among them were such names 
as James Ennis, Alexander Campbell, Benjamin 
Botts, Edmund Randolph, John Wickham, and 
most famous and best beloved of all, Patrick 
Henry. 

The eloquent William Wirt has left us a graphic 
account of Marshall's style of argument in the 
courts. U A11 his eloquence consists in the ap- 
parently deep self-conviction, and the emphatic 
earnestness of his manner; the correspondent 
simplicity and energy of his style; the close and 
logical connection of his thoughts; and the easy 
gradations by which he opens his lights on the 
attentive minds of his hearers. The audience are 



1 92 JOHN MARSHALL 

never permitted to pause for a moment. There 
is no stopping to weave garlands of flowers, to 
hang in festoons around a favorite argument. On 
the contrary, every sentence is progressive; every 
idea sheds a new light on the subject." 

On January 3, 1783, the happy young manhood 
of John Marshall, now twenty-eight years of age, 
received its crowning joy by his marriage with 
Mary Willis Ambler, a daughter of Jaqueline 
Ambler, Treasurer of Virginia. The purity of 
his thoughts, the charm of his manner, and his 
unconcealed admiration for the fair sex made him 
ever a favorite with the members of that last and 
best achievement of the Creator. We are afforded 
a charming account of his meeting with his sweet- 
heart by a letter from her sister, Mrs. Edward 
Carrington, published in "Colonial Days and 
Dames," by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton. It 
seems that the bachelor lawyer had a mind to at- 
tend a ball at York, and his coming was not un- 
heralded. "Our expectations," writes Mrs. Car- 
rington, "were raised to the highest pitch, and the 
little circle was on tiptoe on his arrival. Our girls, 
particularly, were emulous who should be the first 
introduced. It is remarkable that my sister, then 
only fourteen and diffident beyond all others, de- 
clared that we were giving ourselves useless 
trouble, for that she, for the first time, had made 
up her mind to go to the ball (though she had not 
even been to a dancing-school), and was resolved 
to set her cap at him, and eclipse us all. This in 
the end proved true, and at the first introduction 
he became devoted to her." It is interesting to 
recall the fact that the mother of Marshall's sweet- 
heart was Judy Burwell, the "Belinda" as he called 



JOHN MARSHALL 193 

her, after the euphuistic fashion of the time, to 
whom Thomas Jefferson had made a limited pro- 
posal of marriage some twenty years or more be- 
fore. That adolescent statesman told his "Be- 
linda" that he loved her, but did not desire at 
present to engage himself, since he wished to go 
to Europe for an indefinite period, but he said that 
on his return, if his affections were unchanged, he 
would finally and openly commit himself. This 
early "declaration of independence" did not appeal 
to "Belinda," and the laggard in lovewas promptly 
dismissed. A little more fire on the part of the 
future sage of Monticello, and who knows, Jeffer- 
son might have been the father-in-law of Marshall. 
Their historic differences might have been adjusted 
in family councils, or terminated by conjugal de- 
crees, for then as now, "the hand that rocks the 
cradle is the hand that rules the world." Marshall 
was indeed a devoted lover, and Justice Story, 
after his wife's death, described him as "the most 
extraordinary man I ever saw for the depth and 
tenderness of his feelings." A letter written to 
her when he was three score and ten betrays how 
the mind of the old man reverted to those blissful 
days when he wooed and won the sweet companion 
of his life. He had received an injury to his knee, 
about which Mrs. Marshall was anxious. "I shall 
be out," he writes, "in a few days. All the ladies 
of the Secretaries have been to see me; some more 
than once, and have brought me more jelly than 
I could eat, and many other things. I thank them, 
and stick to my barley broth. Still I have lots of 
time on my hands. How do you think I beguile it? 
You must know I begin with the ball at York, our 
splendid assembly in the Palace in Williamsburg, 



i 9 4 JOHN MARSHALL 

my visit to Richmond for a fortnight, my return 
to the field, and the very welcome reception you 
gave me on my arrival at Dover, our little tiffs 
and makings up, my feelings when Major Dick 
was courting you, my trip to the Cottage [the 
Ambler Home in Hanover county where he was 
married], the thousand little incidents deeply 
affecting in turn." Surely the great Chief Justice 
shared to the full the tender sentiment of Tom 
Moore, — 

"There's nothing half so sweet in life 
As love's young dream." 

We now approach the period of Marshall's 
achievements as a statesman. His long service 
in the army, and his familiarities with the diffi- 
culties that Washington and the country had en- 
countered, enabled him to perceive with clearness 
the defects of the Government which had for a 
paper title the old Articles of Confederation. 

In the utter absence of national credit, at the 
end of the year 1779, a continental dollar was 
worth less than two and a half cents. A metaphor 
of depreciation, "not worth a continental," origi- 
nated then, and, somewhat expanded, still en- 
livens our vocabulary. Our ally, the King of 
France, had been lending us money, wrung by mer- 
ciless taxation from the sans culottes, while man 
for man the American people were far richer than 
the people of France. Such is the paralysis of 
government, where there is no power to compel 
a fair distribution of its burdens. The condition 
of the American troops was indeed pitiable. Writ- 
ing to that beautiful young wife, from whose arms 
he had flown to draw his stainless sword for the 



JOHN MARSHALL 195 

cause of freedom, Marquis de LaFayette declared, 
"No European army would suffer the one-tenth 
part of what the American troops suffer." We 
have the authority of General Greene for be- 
lieving that nothing held them together "save the 
influence of the Commander-in-Chief, whom they 
almost adore." Indeed, so impotent was the Gov- 
ernment that it was difficult to get a quorum of 
Congress to assemble to approve the Treaty of 
Peace, for which the patriots had bled and suffered 
throughout the entire war. 

To no other, save perhaps to Hamilton and to 
Washington, were these conditions more plainly 
apparent than to John Marshall. We may well 
believe that the iron had entered his soul, when 
with patriotic fire he had trudged afoot from Vir- 
ginia to Philadelphia, to take anew his place with 
the colors, and a ragged, penniless captain of the 
Continental line, he had been denied admittance 
to a Philadelphia inn. How, therefore, must John 
Marshall's soul have thrilled with joy, for the 
fruition of the work of that immortal body, who, 
with wisdom "prophetic and prescient of whatever 
the future had in store," labored with swerveless 
devotion to construct for our country a Constitu- 
tion worthy of its heroic past, and comprehending 
in its majestic design powers to provide for all the 
exigencies of an expanding civilization, unparal- 
leled in the annals of man, securing the enlighten- 
ment, the happiness, the freedom of uncounted 
millions of the mighty race, who in ages to come 
will turn with ever-increasing adoration to the 
Flag of the Freeman's home and hope. 

Nor was this great Virginian merely a senti- 
mental, idle supporter of the Constitution. With 



196 JOHN MARSHALL 

an unbreakable hold upon the affections and con- 
fidence of his people, he was elected to the Vir- 
ginia Convention of 1788, assembled to determine 
whether the Constitution should be adopted. The 
people of Henrico County, then including the city 
of Richmond, with unmistakable majority were 
opposed to the adoption of the Constitution. By 
the witching eloquence of Patrick Henry they had 
been wooed into a devotion for separate and un- 
qualified State sovereignty. On the other hand, 
John Marshall lost no opportunity to make effect- 
ive his cordial advocacy of the Constitution. He 
was assured that if he would become a candidate, 
and would oblige himself to vote against the Con- 
stitution, all opposition would be withdrawn, other- 
wise that his election would be contested. He de- 
clared, "I will vote for the Constitution if 1 get a 
chance." 

This memorable convention, mainly composed 
of renowned representatives of the "first families" 
of Virginia, met in Richmond on the 2d of June, 
1788. Until a very recent period the people of the 
Southern States, perhaps more than any others, 
rejoiced in the opportunity to hear the joint dis- 
cussions of their famous men, and the Virginians 
of that day afforded no exception to the rule. In 
his "Life of Patrick Henry," William Wirt in 
Ciceronian phraseology gives us a lively account 
of the momentous gathering. 

"Gentlemen," writes he, "from every quarter 
of the State were seen thronging to the metropolis, 
and speeding their eager way to the building in 
which the convention held its meeting. Day after 
day from morning until night, the galleries of the 
house were continually filled with an anxious 



JOHN MARSHALL 197 

crowd, who forgot the inconvenience of their sit- 
uation in the excess of their enjoyment." 

Marshall was ever more prone to listen than 
to speak, but when he came forward with quiet 
intrepidity, as Ivanhoe in the lists of Ashby smote 
with the point of his lance, and rang against the 
shield of Brian de Bois Guilbert, so the young Vir- 
ginian aimed his blows at the Coryphaeus of the op- 
position, the redoubtable Patrick Henry. The 
story of this famous debate is familiar history. 
Patrick Henry rang every note of discord as only 
he could do. "We shall have a king," he cried; 
"the army will salute him as a monarch." He 
seized upon the terrors of a transient thunder 
storm, and with ready dramatic power instanced 
the flashing of lightning and the crashing of the 
thunder as marks of the displeasure of Heaven 
upon the proposed Constitution. But the admir- 
able temper of Marshall's argument, his lucid 
analysis, his astonishing familiarity with the mis- 
chiefs the Constitution was intended to remedy, 
and the irresistible logic with which he enforced 
his propositions made the profoundest impression 
upon the convention, and well-nigh dominated the 
elevated conscience of Patrick Henry himself. 
Marshall was then but thirty-three years of age, 
but speaking of him, Patrick Henry exclaimed, 
U I have the highest respect and veneration for the 
honorable gentleman. I have experienced his can- 
dor upon all occasions." We may well believe that 
in that high debate there came before the imagina- 
tion of Marshall those visions of the victorious, 
powerful, proud and united nation with which he 
and Monroe, Hamilton and Laurens, and many 
other brilliant young patriots had beguiled the 



i 9 8 JOHN MARSHALL 

weary hours around the flickering camp-fires of 
Valley Forge. We may not doubt that there came 
to his memory the reiterated declarations of Wash- 
ington, that to maintain our liberties the States 
must surrender something of the fiction of sover- 
eignty, and while preserving their integrity, must 
adjust their relations to a central and supreme au- 
thority. In truth, the actual constitutional con- 
vention may have been held around the camp- 
fires of the Continental army. There, with con- 
ceptions crystal-clear of our country's needs, the 
officers and men of the American forces had in 
substance formulated the noble system of govern- 
ment under which we live, and could Washington 
in 1776 have wielded the power now proper to 
our Commander-in-Chief, the manhood of the 
American people could have expelled the British 
from our shores almost as swiftly as we but lately 
drove the Spaniard from the island of Cuba. 
Finally, the resistless appeal to reason by Mar- 
shall, the lucid and temperate persuasions of Madi- 
son, the quiet but irresistible power of Washing- 
ton prevailed upon the noble manhood of the Old 
Dominion, and on June 25th, by a majority of 
ten, she cast her lot with her sister States, and 
voted for the Constitution. 

And now the Constitution was adopted. And 
now Washington, the first President, seeming 
more the venerated sage than the fearless war- 
rior, again traversed the northward road from 
Mt. Vernon, over which fifteen years before he 
rode to take command of the patriot forces. Now, 
on famous fields, he was hailed with the acclama- 
tions of his countrymen, and by "white-robed 
choirs" of his lovely countrywomen singing odes 



JOHN MARSHALL 199 

of welcome as they strewed flowers before him, 
with stately ceremonial was inaugurated ; and the 
Government like some mighty machine began its 
rhythmical movement, and the Nation was made. 
Oh, my young countrymen, when we contem- 
plate our increasing millions, when we perceive 
how they rejoice in the blessings of liberty and 
law, when we view our goodly heritage, when we 
know that with all our past glories our mission 
for humanity is scarcely begun, with what grate- 
fulness and love should we dwell upon the memory 
of the great men of our race, who made this pos- 
sible, who made this sure. 

It was inevitable that John Marshall, who took 
such great part in the formation of pur Govern- 
ment, should soon be called to assist in its admin- 
istration. In the Virginia Assembly, as Envoy to 
France, as a Member of Congress, as Secretary 
of State, he now successively served the people 
of his State and of the Nation. It was but natural 
also that Marshall should have cherished the high- 
est confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of the 
President ; and he accorded an unwavering support 
to those measures of internal concern and foreign 
policy advised by that exalted patriot, and about 
which it now seems impossible that there could 
have been a difference of opinion among enlight- 
ened men. 

The services rendered by Marshall in this mis- 
sion to France were inestimable. With the scorn 
of an honest man he confounded the corrupt 
schemes of the brilliant but unscrupulous Talley- 
rand, and opened the eyes of the quick-sighted 
French statesmen to the probity and force of the 
American character. Thus the foreigners were 



200 JOHN MARSHALL 

made to know the confidence of our people in our 
vast but yet untested powers. While apparently 
displeasing to Jefferson, the action of the envoys 
doubtless contributed to the success of that meas- 
ure, which adds most largely to his fame, for a few 
years later, when he was President, and Napoleon 
was dispatching a powerful military force to in- 
trench French authority in the Louisiana territory, 
and America determined to resist, the First Con- 
sul quickly sold to our country, not only the city 
of New Orleans, but the mighty Louisiana Pur- 
chase west of the Mississippi, now comprising 
many imperial States. The effects of this mission 
upon the fortunes of Marshall were more im- 
mediate. John Adams declared of him, "He has 
raised the American people in their own esteem, 
and if the influence of truth and just-reasoned ar- 
gument is not lost in Europe, he has raised the 
consideration of the United States in that quarter." 
He was tendered the position of Associate Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
The appointment was declined. It is said that a 
controlling reason for his declination was the ear- 
nest request of Washington that Marshall should 
again accept a candidacy for Congress. His re- 
election was warmly opposed by Mr. Jefferson and 
his party. The contest was severe. It was in- 
dustriously circulated that Patrick Henry, who be- 
longed to the Jefferson party, was antagonistic 
to Marshall. But that noble Virginian betrayed 
a magnanimity and patriotism which the politicians 
of the present day might often imitate with profit 
to the country. Notwithstanding their past differ- 
ences, he at once declared: "John Marshall and 
his colleagues exhibited the American character 



JOHN MARSHALL 201 

as respectable. France in the period of her most 
triumphant fortune beheld them as unparalleled. 
Tell Marshall I love him because he felt and acted 
as an American. I really should give him my vote 
for Congress preferably to any citizen in the State 
at this juncture, one only excepted, and that one is 
in another line." That one was Washington 
himself. 

Marshall was elected, Congress convened, and, 
most unhappily, one of his first duties was to an- 
nounce in the House the death of the Father of his 
Country, the "hero, the patriot, and the sage of 
America." On the 19th of December, 1789, with 
deep emotion, Marshall arose, addressed the 
chair, and informed the country that "Washing- 
ton lives now only in his own great actions, and 
in the hearts of an affectionate and afflicted peo- 
ple." He proceeded to offer the resolutions, pre- 
pared by General Henry Lee, the famous "Light 
Horse Harry" of the Revolution, the son of 
Washington's "Lowland Beauty," Lucy Grimes, 
and the father of our own immortal Robert Ed- 
ward Lee. These resolutions contained the im- 
perishable tribute, "First in War, First in Peace, 
and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen." 

On the reorganization of Mr. Adams' Cabinet, 
Marshall was nominated as Secretary of War. 
This he declined, but Mr. Pickering having been 
removed by the President from the State Depart- 
ment, Marshall accepted that position, and while 
holding this office on the 31st of January, 1801, 
a little more than one month before the expiration 
of the Adams Presidential term, he was appointed 
Chief Justice, and on the 4th of February of that 
year he took the oath of office and his seat on the 






202 JOHN MARSHALL 

bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
It was as Chief Justice that John Marshall won 
his great fame, and made an impression upon the 
fortunes of the nation which will not perish from 
the memory of men as long as the sciences of gov- 
ernment and jurisprudence survive. 

"From his youth upward," said the stately and 
eloquent Binney, "he had been engaged in various 
stations and offices tending successively to cor- 
roborate his health, to expand his affections, to 
develop his mind, to enrich it with the stores of 
legal science, to familiarize it with public affairs 
and with the principles of the Constitution, and be- 
fore little more than half his life had run out, pro- 
ducing from the material supplied by a most boun- 
tiful nature, a consummate work preeminently 
fitted for the judicial department of the Federal 
Government." From the admiring pen of Justice 
Story we have this description of his personal ap- 
pearance at this time: "Marshall is of a tall, 
slender figure, not graceful or imposing, but erect 
and steady, his hair is black, his eyes small and 
twinkling, his forehead rather low, but his features 
are in general harmonious. His manner is plain, 
yet dignified. An unaffected modesty diffuses it- 
self through all his actions." The bearing of the 
Chief Justice in the actual discharge of his judicial 
duties was as perfect as their result. Said a con- 
temporary: "His carriage was faultless. Whether 
the argument was animated or dull, instructive or 
superficial, the regard of his expressive eye was 
an assurance that nothing that ought to affect the 
cause was lost by inattention or indifference, and 
the courtesy of his general manner was only so far 
restrained on the bench as was necessary for the 



JOHN MARSHALL 203 

dignity of office and for the suppression of famil- 
iarity." Another eulogist has declared, "Of the 
parties he knew nothing, of the case everything." 
The august court of which he was now the Chief 
Justice is purely an American creation. Early in 
its history it was said by DeTocqueville : "A more 
imposing judicial power was never constituted by 
any people. The Supreme Court is placed at the 
head of all known tribunals, both by the nature of 
its rights and the classes of justiciable parties which 
it controls." The great critic of our institutions 
was right. Its majestic final jurisdiction, particu- 
larly to annul legislation not warranted by the Con- 
stitution, has been in truth as impressive to the 
political philosopher, as beneficial to the great 
Republic. This feature of our judicial system, 
exercised not only by the Federal but by the State 
courts, with final appeal to the Supreme Court of 
the United States, was startling to the absolutism 
of the world. England's highest court of justice 
may not arrest the operation of an Act of Parlia- 
ment even though it be in violation of Magna 
Charta. "It was reserved," said Edward J. 
Phelps, "for the American Constitution to extend 
the judicial protection of personal rights, not only 
against the rulers of the people, but against the 
representatives of the people." Mr. Jefferson and 
his followers were in that day bitterly jealous of 
this power, and the feeling has perhaps not yet 
wholly disappeared. Indeed, it is stated by the 
most recent biographer of Jefferson, the brilliant 
and epigrammatic Thomas E. Watson, of our own 
State, that to shake the authority of the Federal 
courts he adopted the plan of impeaching Associate 
Justice Chase. "The prosecution," said Mr. Wat- 



2o 4 JOHN MARSHALL 

son, "failed miserably. Chase came forth in 
triumph. Henceforth John Marshall was safe." 
Aye, and the country was safe. 

No thoughtful patriot can longer doubt that this 
great judicial power more than all other causes 
has contributed to establish justice, to provide for 
the general welfare and to secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. It has 
remained, however, for our own times to witness 
that great tribunal, with unshrinking courage and 
immovable firmness, brand the condemnation of 
the Constitution, upon measure after measure, in 
decisions vital to the peace and happiness of the 
homogeneous Anglo-Saxon population of the 
Southern States, decisions which have enabled us 
to rebuild our homes, to reconsecrate our altars, 
to re-kindle the torch of education, to add the su- 
perabounding products of our practically un- 
touched resources of field, forest, and mine to the 
aggregate wealth of the nation, and so endear 
again to the people, our common country, that in 
its recent need the veterans of Lee and Johnston, 
and the sons of their blood, flocked to the colors 
with a spontaneity and enthusiasm unsurpassed by 
the veterans of the Union, or by the gallant youth 
of the North. 

We are not, however, to conclude that the mind 
of the great Chief Justice was absolutely colorless. 
A soldier and patriot, and distinguished in political 
life, he could not divest his mind of an interest in 
public affairs, nor put behind him the opinions he 
had deliberately formed as to the best methods of 
government. He believed that the Constitution, 
while preserving all the essential rights of the 
States as to local government, had been intended 



JOHN MARSHALL 205 

to create and did create a perpetual National Gov- 
ernment as to national affairs; and so believing, 
he saw a meaning in the instrument which made 
the great majority of his decisions accord with 
national principles of construction and policy. 

How vastly his doctrines of constitutional con- 
struction have contributed to the power of the 
nation, and the prosperity and happiness of the 
people, is beyond the descriptive measure of hu- 
man speech. The supremacy of the Government, 
its power to establish banks for the commerce of 
the people ; its power to control the commerce with 
foreign nations, and between the States upon prin- 
ciples of justice; to establish uniform rules of 
naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject 
of bankruptcy; to restrain unconstitutional powers 
attempted by the States; to condemn the valueless 
State currency at times emitted; to uphold the 
obligations of contracts; to promote internal im- 
provements; and to provide for the common de- 
fense — these are but a few of the vital questions 
which are imperishably imbedded in our system by 
the constructive genius, the massive minds, the im- 
movable firmness, the abounding patriotism of 
John Marshall and the great judges who have 
thought with him. 

It is true that when old and worn, upon his aged 
eyes fell the vision of that portentous cloud look- 
ing above the horizon, to bring in its wake the 
cyclone of revolution, to sweep away millions of 
property and thousands of priceless lives, but 
around his dying couch gleamed the halo of his 
judicial achievements, and these still live in their 
pristine power to save the nation in its greatest 
need, and will live while the nation lives. 



206 JOHN MARSHALL 

It fell to his lot to outlive well-nigh all of those 
mighty builders who had laid, and cemented with 
the blood of many, the foundation of American 
liberty, and who had constructed thereon the 
shapeliest and strongest scheme for the govern- 
ment of freemen the world has ever known. His 
beloved Commander, the idol of his heart, for 
more than a generation had been sleeping in that 
spot on the romantic banks of the Potomac, then, 
now, and forever to remain the sacred shrine of 
a nation's love. The ashes of Alexander Hamil- 
ton, his best beloved young comrade-in-arms, for 
many years had reposed in an untimely grave. The 
mild and persuasive Madison, his colleague and co- 
laborer in the Virginia Convention to adopt the 
Constitution, now penning with tremulous hand, 
to the people whom he loved, his last pathetic 
warnings against the dangers of nullification and 
disunion, had less than a year to live. John 
Adams, the fiery and incorruptible patriot, who 
had been rocked in every storm of the Revolution 
and who had declared in his old age that his gift 
of John Marshall to the people of the United 
States was the proudest act of his life, and Thomas 
Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, nine years gone, were both dead, on 
Independence Day. Marshall was now nearly 
eighty years of age. The sweet Virginia 
maiden, who more than fifty years before had won 
the love of the affectionate, strong young soldier, 
coming from the war, the true and tender helpmeet 
in all the trials and anxieties of his wondrous ca- 
reer, she too, as he said, "a sainted spirit, had fled 
from the sufferings of life.'* 

Afflicted by the maladies common to extreme 



JOHN MARSHALL 207 

old age, the great Chief Justice, who knew his 
Bible and loved his God, no doubt often dwelt 
upon the mournful majesty of the Psalmist when 
he exclaims: "The days of our years are three- 
score and ten; and if by reason of strength they 
be fourscore years, yet is their strength, labor and 
sorrow." So with his mighty intellect unclouded 
to the last, on the 6th day of July, 1835, about 6 
o'clock in the evening, the greatest judge the world 
has ever known calmly met the inevitable hour, 
and passed away in peace. 

Though dead, enshrined in the love and venera- 
tion of his country, he lives and shall live in glor- 
ious memory to the latest times, and from the very 
flower of the country's purity and patriotism, from 
famous law schools and universities, from the 
members of his noble profession, from courts of 
loftiest jurisdiction, from great cities, and from 
hamlets, from the grateful hearts of eighty mil- 
lions of people, and from millions yet unborn, 
come and will continue to come acclamations to the 
fame of this mighty American, who taught to the 
people the imperishable truth, indispensable to our 
happiness and strength at home, and our strength 
and honor abroad — he best serves and loves his 
State, who country serves and loves the best. 




Thomas Erskine 



FACING PAGE 209 



ERSKINE.* 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Law Class, 
Ladies, and Gentlemen: 

With long opportunities for observation I am 
convinced that the greatest handicap upon the edu- 
cated youth of our country to-day, is the inability to 
make clear and attractive public discussion com- 
mensurate with their intellectual power, of those 
topics which daily present themselves to the con- 
sideration of a self-governing people. 

"He who would teach eloquence," said Hume, 
"must do it chiefly by examples.' 1 He who would 
demonstrate that it can lose none of its influence, 
usefulness and power must, to some extent, do like- 
wise. The brevity essential to this occasion obliges 
me to restrict your attention to one example, to 
that illustrious member of the English Bar who 
though dead for nearly a century yet maintains 
unchallenged leadership in the noble profession of 
advocacy, Thomas Lord Erskine,Lord Chancellor 
of England. "As an advocate in the forum," said 
Lord Campbell, "I hold him to be without an equal 
in ancient or modern times." He had no less power 
with the court than with the jury. A complete life 
of this marvelous man has not yet been written. 
Like Nottingham, Somers, and Hardwick, and 
like many an illustrious advocate and jurist in our 
own land, he has failed to obtain an enthusiastic or 

*Ba xalaureate Address as Dean of Law School, Mercer 
University, Commencement, 1908. 

209 



210 ERSKINE 

even faithful biographer. In his "Lives of the 
Lord Chancellors," Lord Campbell has recorded 
many incidents of Erskine's life. The paper from 
the pen of the titled biographer is, however, unhap- 
pily marked by some of those characteristics which 
prompted Sir Charles Weatherell to refer to the 
author as "my noble and biographical friend who 
has added a new terror to death." 

He was born in Edinburgh in January, 1750. 
His father, Henry David Erskine, Earl of Bu- 
chan, might trace his earldom to the times of Wil- 
liam the Lion, but when the son, whose impression 
on history would surpass that of all his titled an- 
cestors combined, was born, the eccentric earl pos- 
sessed an income not greater than two hundred 
pounds a year. It followed that the future leader 
of the English bar could not be regularly trained 
for either of the learned professions. He, how- 
ever, mastered the rudiments of classical culture 
at the High School of Edinburgh, and the Univer- 
sity of St. Andrew. In 1764 he went to sea as a 
midshipman, in a ship commanded by a nephew of 
Lord Mansfield, then Chief Justice of England. 
After four years of sea service, his ship having 
been paid off, at the age of eighteen Erskine ob- 
tained a commission as ensign in the Royals or 
First Regiment of Foot. Two years later he com- 
mitted what some have termed an act of improvi- 
dence, but which the better informed believe to be 
the felicitous consummation essential to the devel- 
opment of genius. He married a young woman of 
good family but of no fortune. It surely sterns 
essential to the rapid and continuous progress to- 
ward eminence at the bar that the young lawyer, 
like the otherwise immovable terrapin, must have a 



ERSKINE 211 

coal of fire on his back. I use this metaphor to 
indicate the ardent and stimulating effect of judi- 
cious matrimony, and hasten to protest against the 
incinerating or scarifying idea the suspicious or 
malevolent might suggest. It was Lord Kenyon, I 
believe, who said to a young advocate of wealth 
whose advancement had been slow, "Sir, you must 
spend your fortune, take you a wife, then spend 
her fortune, and then you will go to work.'* 
Erskine's wife having died just before he obtained 
the Lord Chancellorship, he recorded on her tomb- 
stone that she was the most faithful and most af- 
fectionate of women. Later in life he remarried, 
this time a Miss Sarah Buck, who, as her maiden 
name might import, was not altogether so amiable 
or controllable. To this infelicitous alliance Sheri- 
dan applied the lines of Dryden, 

"When men like Erskine go astray, 
The stars are more at fault than they." 

While stationed with his regiment at Minorca, 
Erskine entered upon the systematic study of Eng- 
lish literature. It is probably true that no two 
years were ever better spent in what seems an un- 
conscious effort to enhance his native gifts of elo- 
quence. He read largely in prose, but Lord 
Brougham declares that "he was more familiar 
with Shakespeare than almost any man of his age, 
and Milton he had nearly by heart." "The noble 
speeches in Paradise Lost," exclaimed this great 
contemporary, "might be deemed as good a sub- 
stitute as could be discovered by the future orator 
for the immortal originals in the Greek models." 
We find that in after years these were often util- 
ized in our own land by the mighty Webster him- 



212 ERSKINE 

self. The works of Dryden and Pope were also 
read, and were committed to memory by Erskine 
with the avidity of a refined and well-formed taste. 
While with his military command he not only read 
prayers but preached sermons to the regiment. 
The felicitous combination of lawyer, preacher, 
and politician has not yet entirely passed off the 
stage. Late in his life there was a fictitious publi- 
cation forecasted by his waggish friends, entitled 
"Sermons preached on ship board and in the camp 
by the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Erskine, 
late Lord High Chancellor." 

It is interesting to recall that my honored prede- 
cessor in the station I hold, Judge John Erskine, 
was of the same family as the great advocate of 
whom I speak. In early manhood he too had 
been a sailor and spent several years before the 
mast. When he first held the United States Dis- 
trict Court at Savannah, where certain learned 
proctors are very nautical indeed, the trial of an 
admiralty case afforded them an opportunity to 
explain to the new judge many practical questions 
relating to navigation, and particularly the rigging 
and tackle of a ship. Judge Erskine listened pa- 
tiently and deferentially while with much detail 
they explained everything from the main truck to 
the keel. Finally a brief recess was proposed, 
when the old sailor quietly remarked, "Gentlemen, 
I presume that you retire to splice the main brace, 
be quite sure that you do not bowse the jib." 

It is said by some that only accident attracted 
Erskine's attention to the bar. He had been in the 
army about six years. Stationed in the country 
town where the assizes were being held, he strolled 
into court one day, and Lord Mansfield, who was 



ERSKINE 213 

presiding, observing his uniform, asked his name. 
The Chief Justice finding that he was the boy 
whom he had ten years before assisted in going to 
sea, the young officer was at once invited to a seat 
on the bench. His Lordship stated the principal 
points of the case on trial. Erskine listened to the 
arguments with the liveliest interest. The counsel 
were the leaders of the circuit, but it occurred to the 
young soldier, who ever betrayed the self-confi- 
dence of that daring profession, how much more 
clearly and forcibly he could have presented cer- 
tain points and urged them on the minds of the 
jury. Lord Mansfield invited him to dinner, and 
was delighted with his charming powers of conver- 
sation. It is indeed characteristic of most illus- 
trious judges that they are very fond of young men. 
Erskine, at the close of the evening, propounded 
to the famous jurist the question, u Is it impossible 
for me to become a lawyer?" The Chief Justice 
did not wholly discourage him. His mother, who 
was a woman of strong character, when consulted, 
eagerly supported his budding ambition. As the 
son of a nobleman he was entitled to a degree at 
one of the universities if he merely kept his regu- 
lar terms, and by this his term of legal study at the 
Inns of Court might be abridged. He accordingly 
became a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
early in 1776, and managed also to keep his terms 
in Lincoln's Inn. He retained his commission in 
the Army, for this was essential to his support, but 
secured a leave of absence for six months. He 
then sold his commission and eked out the profits 
with the most painful frugality. He dressed 
cheaply, lived on cow beef because he could buy 
nothing better, and after two years of study, in 



2i 4 ERSKINE 

July, 1778, when twenty-eight years of age, was 
admitted to that profession of which almost in- 
stantly he was to become the most distinguished 
ornament. He was doubtless excited to this 
course by the success of another brother, Henry, 
or "Harry" Erskine, as he was called, who had for 
some years been the brightest and wittiest member 
of the Scottish bar. Of the latter I have some- 
where read this anecdote: A maiden lady of an 
uncertain age, of the name of Tickell, appeared 
as plaintiff against Donald and McLean. Harry 
Erskine appeared for the autumnal maiden. "Who 
are the parties in this case, Mr. Erskine?" inquired 
the crusty old judge. Reversing the order for the 
sake of the joke, Erskine brightly replied, "Don- 
ald and McLean, the defendants, Tickell, the 
plaintiff, my Lord." Roars of laughter followed, 
when the judge said, "Tickle her yourself, Harry, 
you can do it as well as I." This ticklish prece- 
dent, though doubtless sound in Scottish jurispru- 
dence, is not to be recklessly followed by the Ameri- 
can practitioner. 

Thomas Erskine was soon to be at the end of his 
difficulties and privations. Erskine himself re- 
counts his early professional life as follows : "I had 
scarcely a shilling in my pocket when I got my first 
retainer. It was sent me by Captain Bailey of the 
Navy, who held an office at the Board of Green- 
wich Hospital, and I was to make answer in the 
Michaelmas Term, to an order calling on him to 
show cause why a criminal information for a libel, 
reflecting on Lord Sandwick's conduct as Gov- 
ernor in that charity, should not be filed^ against 
him. I had met during the long vacation this 
Captain Bailey at a friend's tabic, and after dinner 



ERSKINE 215 

I expressed myself with some warmth, probably 
with some eloquence, on the corruption of Lord 
Sandwick, as First Lord of the Admiralty, and 
then adverted to the scandalous practices imputed 
to him with regard to Greenwich Hospital. Bailey 
nudged the person who sat next to him, and asked 
who I was. Being told that I had just been called 
to the bar, and had been formerly in the Navy, he 
exclaimed with an oath, 'Then I'll have him for 
my counsel!' I trudged down to Westminster 
Hall when I got the brief, and being the junior of 
five, who would be heard before me, never dreamt 
that the court would hear me at all. The argu- 
ment came on. Hargrave, who led, was long- 
winded and tired the court. It was a bad omen; 
but, as my good fortune would have it, he was un- 
well, and was obliged to retire in the course of his 
argument. This protracted the cause so long that, 
when he had finished, Lord Mansfield said that 
the remaining counsel should be heard the next 
morning. * * * I had the whole night to ar- 
range, in my chambers, what I had to say * * * 
and I took the court with their faculties awake and 
freshened, succeeded quite to my own satisfaction 
(sometimes the surest proof that you have satisfied 
others), and, as I marched along the Hall after 
the rising of the judges, the attorneys flocked 
around me with their retainers. I have since flour- 
ished, but I have always blessed God for the provi- 
dential affliction of poor Hargrave." 

Another account states that the next morning 
the court was crowded, and the Solicitor-General 
was expected to speak in support of the rule, and 
just as Lord Mansfield was about to call upon 
him to proceed, "Erskine arose, unknown to every 



216 ERSKINE 

individual in the room, except his Lordship, and 
said in a mild but firm tone, 'My Lord, I am also 
of counsel for the author of this supposed libel 
* * * and when a British subject is brought 
before a court of justice only for having ventured 
to attack abuses which owe their continuance to the 
danger of attacking them, * * * I cannot 
relinquish the privilege of doing justice to such 
merit, I will not give up even my share of the honor 
of repelling and exposing so odious a prosecution.' 
The whole audience was hushed into a pin-fall si- 
lence. * * *" He concluded: "If he keeps 
this injured man suspended, or dares to turn that 
suspension into a removal, I shall then not scruple 
to declare him an accomplice in their guilt, a 
shameless oppressor, a disgrace to his rank, and 
a traitor to his trust. * * * Fine and impris- 
onment! The man deserves a palace instead of a 
prison who prevents the palace, built by the public 
bounty of his country, from being converted into a 
dungeon, and who sacrifices his own security to the 
interests of humanity and virtue." 
Vj[t is not surprising that Lord Campbell should 
nave pronounced this "the most wonderful forensic 
effort which we have in our annals." The decision 
was for Erskine's client; the rule was dismissed 
with costs. It is probably true that never did a 
single speech so completely insure professional suc- 
cess/^ 

Some one asked Erskine later in life how he 
dared to face Lord Mansfield when he was clearly 
of a different way. He replied, with emotion, "I 
thought of my children as plucking me by the 
robe, and saying, 'Now, father, is the time to get 
us bread.' " His business went on rapidly increas- 



ERSKINE 217 

ing, until he had an income of 12,000 pounds 
($60,000) a year. 

In his second year at the bar, with most unusual 
distinction, he was called upon to defend Lord 
George Gordon for high treason, the charge flow- 
ing out of the No-Popery Riots of 178 1, painted 
in such lurid colors by Charles Dickens in "Barna- 
by Rudge." On his speech in this case, and eight 
others, whose renown will be perhaps not less en- 
during than that of Demosthenes on the Crown, 
or of Cicero against Catiline, his title as the 
greatest advocate who has yet arisen among the 
English-speaking people must depend. 

I may add that to the young lawyer, to the 
aspiring statesman, and to the young theologian 
as well, nothing can be more valuable, no matter 
whatever labor it may cost, than a perfect ac- 
quaintance with those specimens of his forensic 
reasoning, which have been recorded, and which 
may be found in any respectable library. Of such 
productions, Dr. Samuel Johnson exclaimed, 
"They are bark and steel to the mind." 

In maintaining the rights of juries in the great 
case of the Dean of St. Asaph's, Lord Campbell de- 
clares, "Erskine's addresses to the court, in mov- 
ing, and afterward in supporting, his rule, display 
beyond all comparison the most perfect union of 
argument and eloquence ever exhibited in West- 
minster Hall." 

Of his speech in defense of Stockdale, said the 
Edinburgh Review: "Whether we regard the won- 
derful skill with which the argument is conducted— 
the soundness of the principles laid down, and their 
happy application to the case — the exquisite fancy 
with which they are embellished and illustrated — 



218 ERSKINE 

or the powerful and touching language in which 
they are conveyed, it is justly regarded by all Eng- 
lish lawyers as a consummate specimen of the art 
of addressing a jury." "By these merits it is recom- 
mended to lovers of pure diction — of copious and 
animated description — of lively, picturesque, and 
fanciful illustration — of all that constitutes, if we 
may so speak, the poetry of eloquence." The jury 
ignored the instructions of the court, and acquitted 
the prisoner. 

His speeches in behalf of Frost, in behalf of 
Bingham, in behalf of Marklam, are the sure 
foundations of enduring fame. "Nor," said Lord 
Brougham, — himself a great judge of eloquence, — 
"nor let it be deemed trivial, or beneath the his- 
torian's province, to mark the noble figure, every 
look of whose countenance is expressive, every 
motion of whose form graceful, an eye that 
sparkles and pierces, and almost assures victory. 
Then hear his voice of surpassing sweetness, clear, 
flexible, strong, exquisitely fitted to strains of seri- 
ous earnestness, * * * but wholly free from 
harshness or monotony. * * * His argu- 
mentative powers were of the highest order, clear 
in his statements, close in his applications, with a 
quick and sure perception of his point, and undevi- 
ating in the pursuit of whatever established it; 
endowed with a nice discernment of the relative 
importance and weight of different arguments, and 
the faculty of assigning to each its proper place." 

Than Erskine, no man made fewer mistakes in 
the conduct of his cause. Never would he have 
committed the blunder of Lord Denman, when 
after his magnificent peroration in defense of 
Queen Caroline against the cruel persecution of 



ERSKINE 119 

her husband, George the Fourth, in vindication of 
her womanly honor, in anti-climax he finally im- 
plored for her the compassion accorded to Mag- 
dalen. 

That Erskine had his detractors is true. To one 
of these critics, who was recounting to Chief Jus- 
tice Kenyon some of the envious animadversions 
of Westminster Hall, Lord Kenyon replied, 
"Young man, what you have mentioned is most 
probably unfounded, but these things, even if they 
were true, are only spots in the sun! As for his 
egotism, which they are so fond of laying to his 
charge, they would talk of themselves as much as 
Mr. Erskine does of himself, if they had the same 
right to do so. His nonsense would set up half a 
dozen of such men as run him down." 

In his idle moments he was one of the most play- 
ful of men, and, like most great orators, a great 
conversationalist. He was often dashing off, and 
handing around to his brother lawyers humorous 
couplets. Mr. Justice Ashurst had a long, lanky 
visage, probably not unlike that which Cervantes 
has ascribed to the "Knight of the Melancholy 
Countenance." Of him Erskine wrote : 

"Judge Ashurst, with his lantern jaws, 
Throws light upon the English laws." 

Observing upon how much confidence in speak- 
ing was acquired from habit and frequent employ- 
ment, a barrister named Lamb remarked, "I don't 
find it so, for though I have a good share of busi- 
ness, I don't find my confidence increased; rather 
the contrary." "Why," replied Erskine, "it is 
nothing wonderful that a Lamb should grow 
sheepish." 



220 ERSKINE 

In that class of cases — too frequent then as now 
— in which the cruel and unprincipled, often, after 
many years of unselfish devotion and sacrificial 
service by the hapless victims, rive the bond of 
matrimony, lay waste the happiness of homes, and 
drive hope from faithful hearts, his indignant elo- 
quence wrung from the jurors of England damages 
in the most astonishing punitive amounts. Main- 
taining that the conjugal rights he sought to vindi- 
cate, were incalculably more valuable than all prop- 
erty, and that no adequate return in money could 
be made, he was constantly awarded verdicts in 
pounds sterling, amounting to twenty-five thousand, 
forty thousand, and even fifty thousand dollars. 

In such cases, scenes of domestic endearment 
and felicity, which had been blotted from existence, 
were described with the utmost delicacy and ten- 
derness, and with the most fiery indignation was his 
invective directed at those who had ruthlessly in- 
vaded and destroyed them. In the case of Dun- 
ning versus Sir Thomas Turton, where a loving 
husband was the victim, Erskine depicted the emo- 
tions of the agonized soul in colors which will en- 
dure forever. He pronounced the passage from 
Othello with the irresistible effect of his musical ac- 
cents : "But oh, what damned minutes tells he 
o'er, — who dotes yet doubts, suspects, yet fondly 
loves." And continuing he exclaimed, "When sus- 
picion is realized into certainty, and his dishonor is 
placed beyond the reach of doubt, despair assumes 
her dominion over the afflicted man, and well might 
he exclaim from the same page : 



ERSKINE 221 

" 'Had it pleased Heaven 
To try me with affliction ; had He rain'd 
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head ; 
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips ; 
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes ; 
I should have found in some place in my soul 
A drop of patience. But alas !' " 

He stopped, and the effect in sympathetic tears 
was visible in every eye in court. 

It may be well for those who aspire to high rank 
in advocacy to reflect that Erskine, who ordinarily 
spoke extemporaneously, wrote down word for 
word those famous and rhythmical periods in his 
great speeches, since regarded as the rarest jewels 
of forensic eloquence. And it is true, ever true, 
that no permanent effect is made upon the minds of 
men by public speech, save as the result of careful 
thinking and generally much careful writing. 
Cicero declaredthat he who undertakes to instruct 
an audience without first instructing himself, is 
guilty of impudence. After Sheridan's death, from 
his commonplace books itwas discovered that those 
marvelous witticisms, with which he had charmed 
his contemporaries, had been deliberately consid- 
ered, written out, rewritten, and rearranged, so at 
the proper time to produce the most captivating 
effect of original and spontaneous humor. Lord 
Bacon declared that "Reading maketh a full man; 
conference a ready man; and writing, an accurate 
man." It is true that there are a few men, with 
amazing powers of self-concentration who can 
think out almost verbatim the discourses with 
which they will charm, persuade, or convince. 
Such a one was our own Ben Hill of Georgia. In 
my college days I have seen him sit for hours in 
rapt self-absorption wholly oblivious of the con- 
versation of his family and the varied sounds of 



222 ERSKINE 

the household. In a few days, perhaps the next 
day, the result of this intense thought would ap- 
pear in a powerful discourse before some great 
popular gathering, in lucid but unanswerable argu- 
ment on some intricate legal topic, in an irresistible 
appeal to a jury, in which he was scarcely surpassed 
by Erskine himself, or in those "Notes on the Situ- 
ation of Reconstruction Times," which imperi- 
ously demanded that a prostrate and despairing 
people should recall their ancient thoughts from 
banishment. The late Justice L. Q. C. Lamar once 
told me that it was his habit to think out with pre- 
cise verbal accuracy the speech he designed to make, 
and then to write it out literally as he had thought 
it out. The task would seem impossible, but no 
man can question the intellectual honesty, or the 
accuracy of that great son of Georgia. 

The variety and brilliancy of Erskine's talents 
for advocacy are demonstrable by his conduct of 
the case of Hatfield. Here an old soldier had fired 
a pistol point-blank at the King. The defense was 
insanity. He began in a subdued and solemn tone, 
appropriate to the iniquity of the crime. It is said 
that his address on this occasion reminds a classi- 
cal reader of the mild beauties of the Odyssey 
contrasted with the fire of the Iliad. The power 
of the advocate converted in a few hours from 
despair to triumph, a case that seemed utterly 
hopeless, and notwithstanding the zeal and preju- 
dice of the lawyers for the Crown, and the precon- 
ceived opinions of Lord Kenyon, the rugged hon- 
esty of the fearless judge stopped the case and di- 
rected an acquittal. 

In his majestic defense, and glorious victory, in 
behalf of the liberty of the press, Erskine reached 



ERSKINE 223 

the highest summit of his fame. With but two ex- 
ceptions he always appeared as the champion of 
the accused. His deep religious feeling prompted 
him to accept a retainer to prosecute Tom Paine 
for his blasphemous publication of the second part 
of the "Age of Reason." He had previously, and 
in another case, defended this erratic and brilliant 
man to his own great detriment, but he now dis- 
played a strong sense of religion, without which the 
highest achievements in eloquence are utterly unat- 
tainable. "The people of England," he said em- 
phatically (as, thank God ! we may say of the peo- 
ple of America) , "are a religious people, and with 
the blessing of God, so far as it is in my power, I 
will lend my aid to keep them so." 

But I may not detain you. I have said enough — 
perhaps more than enough — to indicate where you 
may find the deep waters of this well of English 
undefiled. Well may we paraphrase the rare and 
ancient verse : 

"Some strains of eloquence, which hung 
In ancient times on Tully's tongue ; 
But which, conceal'd and lost, had lain, 
Till Erskine found them out again." 

Elevated to the Lord Chancellorship, the 
majesty of the station was dwarfed by the renown 
of the advocate, and yet of all of his decisions but 
one was questioned, and that was on appeal con- 
firmed by the House of Lords. Some idler having 
wagered a case of wine that his decrees had been 
reversed, had the impertinence to write him a di- 
rect inquiry on the subject. The reply is interest- 
ing: 

Upper Berkeley Street, Nov. 13, 1819. 

Sir: — You have certainly lost your bet on the subject of my 
decrees, none of which, but one, was appealed against, upon a 



224 ERSKINE 

branch of Mr. Thelluson's will, but it was affirmed without a 
dissentient voice on the motion of Lord Eldon, then and now 
Lord Chancellor. If you think I was no lawyer, you may con- 
tinue to think so. It is plain you are no lawyer yourself; but 
I wish every man to retain his opinions, though at the cost of 
three dozen of port. 

P. S. — To save you from spending your money upon bets you 
are sure to lose, remember that no man can be a great advo- 
cate who is no lawyer. The thing is impossible. 

In view of this noble life, now so imperfectly 
depicted, will you not, my young friends, who will 
soon be endowed with the powers and privileges 
of his noble profession, seek to emulate the lofty 
accomplishments, the patriotic labors, the unselfish 
and fearless sacrifices of its accomplished chief. 
Believe not the self-satisfied and self-magnifying 
owls of our profession who, content to hoot undis- 
puted things in such a solemn way, are prone to 
declare, that the day of the forensic orator is over. 
More than ever before in the annals of representa- 
tive government, and in the history of public jus- 
tice, is the genuine and eloquent advocate vital to 
liberty and social order, and whenever that day 
shall come when freemen are heedless of him whose 
"weighty sense flows in fit words of heavenly elo- 
quence," worship freedom as we may, even among 
its votaries, free government will perish. 

Far from the scene of his triumphs, in West- 
minster Hall, the sacred ashes of our illustrious 
and incomparable leader repose in the ancient 
family vault, "where Scotia's grandeur springs." 
In the greatest city on earth a statue stands to his 
honor in Lincoln's Inn Hall. In historic Holland 
House, whose high-born inmates through succes- 
sive generations have consecrated their hereditary 
powers to the maintenance of liberty and the con- 



ERSKINE 225 

fusion of intolerance, there stands a bust of him, 
with the noble inscription, "Nostrae eloquentiae 
facile princeps." Long may these marble memo- 
rials endure, but after they have crumbled to dust, 
and while the language of his matchless forensic 
orations survive, therein gleaming with unfading 
lustre will remain unimpaired by the rolling years, 
imperishable monuments of his eloquence and 
power in defense of innocence and in advocacy of 
right. 

And shall his mystic wand remain forever 
broken, shall his trophies moulder in the funereal 
silence of his tomb ? May we not lift our eyes and 
behold the renaissance of that "Power above power 
of heavenly eloquence, that with the strong rain of 
commanding words, doth master, sway and move 
the eminence of men's affections." May it not 
be said of you, my young brethren, or to some 
of you, members of his own profession, in this 
land more favored than his, in its clime more 
congenial to free speech, on its richer soil, doubly 
consecrated to the genius of universal freedom, 
those shining words, which were said of him, 
and said of yore to Philip Sydney: "We listen, it 
is true, to others, but we give up our hearts to 
thee." 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOSEPH 
EMERSON BROWN, WAR GOV- 
ERNOR OF GEORGIA.* 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

Of Rev. Dr. W. H. Kilpatrick, President, upon 
the occasion of its delivery at Mercer Univer- 
sity. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen : The pleasure 
which I have in naming the speaker of the occa- 
sion is an unusual one. I speak advisedly when I 
use the word 'naming/ instead of the word 'intro- 
ducing' ; for he whom we are to hear to-day needs 
no introduction to this audience. The subject 
chosen is a most happy one. We have to-day the 
very great pleasure of hearing an address upon 
one of the South's greatest statesmen of the past 
by her greatest orator of the present — a discus- 
sion of the life and times of Joseph E. Brown, by 
Judge Emory Speer." 

ADDRESS OF JUDGE SPEER. 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Board of 

Trustees, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It was the year 1840. The wooded summits of 

the Blue Ridge had put on their autumnal colors. 

These romantic mountains coming down from the 

*Annual Oration, Commencement of Mercer University, 
Macon, Georgia, June 7, 1905 ; and one of the Lectures on the 
Storrs Foundation, at Yale University, New Haven, Con- 
necticut, May, 1906. 

227 



228 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

lofty altitudes of the Appalachian range, and pen- 
etrating the northeastern section of Georgia, have 
an occasional depression. These a poet might 
term the mountain passes, but the mountaineers 
call them the "gaps." One, threaded by a rugged 
trail, connecting the county of Union on the north 
with Lumpkin on the south, is known as the Woody 
Gap. At an early hour of the day of which I 
speak, a slender and sinewy lad came steadily 
through this gap and down the Indian trail. He 
was driving, yoked together, a pair of young 
steers. Presently there followed another and a 
younger boy, mounted on a small horse, whose 
well-defined muscles and obvious ribs did not sug- 
gest a life of inglorious ease. In mountain soli- 
tudes there is little change. Now, as then, look- 
ing southward from the Woody Gap, the traveler 
may behold successive and lower ranges of billowy 
mountains, which together approach the sublime, 
and far beyond in shimmering loveliness stretch- 
ing apparently to the infinite, the "ocean view" as 
it is termed, that "Piedmont country of Georgia," 
some day to afford sustenance to many millions 
of happy freemen. To the northward a more 
precipitous slope seems to terminate in a lovely 
mountain vale. Glancing through its luxuriant 
crops, and by its simple homes, the silvery waters 
of the Toccoa make their way towards the far 
distant Mississippi. The valley, like the mountain, 
is also little changed. Its homes have the same 
unpretentious character, its people the primitive 
virtues of the old American stock. The shriek 
of the locomotive, and the roar of the railway 
train, to this day, have not penetrated the sylvan 
settlement. No village is there. The valley, like 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 229 

many another locality in our mountains, after the 
fashion of the Cherokees, is called a "town." 
There is "Brasstown," and "Fightingtown," and 
across the Tennessee line, "Ducktown." This is 
u Gaddistown," and thence from a rude log cabin 
that day had departed the boy who was driving the 
steers, to become the only man who, in all the his- 
tory of our State, was for four successive terms its 
Governor, a State senator, a Judge of its Superior 
Court, a Chief Justice of its Supreme Court, and 
twice its representative in the Senate of the United 
States. That boy was Joseph Emerson Brown. 

The lad was of Revolutionary stock. Another 
Joseph Brown, his grandfather, at Camden, 
King's Mountain, and other fierce combats, had 
made proof of his devotion to liberty. The father 
of the lad was Mackay Brown. Shouldering his 
rifle in the War of '12, he had followed "Old 
Hickory" to New Orleans, and joined the intrepid 
backwoodsmen of his type, whose deadly aim had 
mown down the veterans of Packenham in one of 
the bloodiest defeats ever sustained by a British 
army. None but the brave deserve the fair, and 
returning from the wars, Mackay Brown was soon 
happily married to Sally Rice. From this union 
of youthful valor, strength, and virtue eleven 
children were born. The eldest of these was 
Joseph E. Brown. It is charming to reflect that 
his parents survived to witness the civic triumphs 
of their illustrious son, and after the great war 
to receive from his filial love in their old age a 
comfortable and indeed abundant provision for 
their every want. 

His boyhood was not wholly uneventful. Said 
General Ira Foster, who was his lifelong friend 



23 o JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

and who lived in famous Dahlonega, his market 
town: "J oe cultivated a little scrap of hillside 
land with a pair of bull calves, and every Satur- 
day hauled to town some potatoes, cabbages, light- 
wood, or other truck, and took back something 
for the family." Ever full armed was the Ameri- 
can backwoodsman, who was proficient with the 
rifle and the ax. The slender boy at an early age 
was master of both. More than once, when quite 
an old man, he spoke to me with obvious pride of 
his success at the shooting-matches for "beef," 
which even now are not unknown in the Georgia 
mountains. The contesting riflemen fire at a mark. 
The beef has been butchered, and it may surprise 
the uninitiated to know that it has been divided 
into five quarters. The fifth quarter is first prize. 
The old statesman in reminiscent vein would say : 
"Usually when my rifle cracked some bystander 
would exclaim, 'There goes the hide and tallow.' " 
It is no exaggeration to add that in later years 
many of his political opponents, after their matches 
with him, discovered that they had also been de- 
prived these important integuments. While excell- 
ing beyond his strength in the manly exercises of 
youth, the boy did not deem it beneath his dignity 
to lighten the labors of his mother. Many a day, 
when it rained, he stood at the spinning-wheel and 
skilfully spun the thread from which the clothing 
of the family was woven. When Senator from 
Georgia, he was conducting a number of Northern 
manufacturers through the halls of the Cotton 
States Exposition. An exhibit was reached where 
the primitive spinning-wheel was contrasted with 
the latest mechanism for the manufacture of 
thread. In reply to some disparaging remark 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 231 

about the rude contrivance, the Senator said, 
"Very good thread can be made on the old spin- 
ning-wheel," and taking the place of the girl who 
was engaged in its operation, to the delight of the 
bystanders he demonstrated that his industrious 
hand had not forgotten the cunning which in days 
long gone had lessened the burdens of his mother. 
For education his early opportunities were very 
limited. I once met his first teacher, then a very 
aged man. He was a witness in a case of illicit 
distillation. To my surprise he informed me that 
Joe Brown, and Mackay, his father, went to school 
to him at the same time. He said, u Joe was the 
peartest boy I ever saw, and could work a sum 
accordin' to the rule quicker'n lightning could trim 
a hemlock." His estimate of Mackay's mathe- 
matical powers was not so encomiastic. To solve 
every problem, Mackay Brown had a rule of his 
own, and it seemed to me that the venerable in- 
structor yet cherished a vivid resentment at the 
bewildering results. Such were the environments 
of the childhood of Joseph E. Brown. Save for 
the pure blood and strong brain of the unpreten- 
tious but historic stock from which he came, there 
was not in his day, in the remotest cove of the 
mountains, or in the humblest cabin of the wire- 
grass, a boy whose chances for distinction in life 
were less auspicious. 

"Joe Brown," as the people ever loved to call 
him, was now nineteen years of age. He deter- 
mined by education to unlock the strong native 
powers of the mind, of which he must have been 
conscious. There was little money in the humble 
cabin, but the untiring hands of his gentle mother 
fashioned him a homespun suit. The calves he 



232 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

had reared and trained, his father gave him. The 
boy bade farewell to his loved ones, put a yoke on 
his patrimony that it might not take to the woods, 
and drove it up the familiar trail, and over many 
a rugged mile beyond, theretofore unknown to the 
footsore beasts, and their weary but resolute mas- 
ter. The destination of the young mountaineer 
was Calhoun Academy, in Anderson District, 
South Carolina. His journey over, the boy bar- 
tered his little steers to Maj. Aaron Broyles for 
five months' board. His first teacher was Pleas- 
ant Jordan, afterwards a distinguished lawyer of 
Little Rock, Arkansas. For his tuition he obtained 
credit. But soon his capital was exhausted, and in 
the fall of 1 841 he returned to Gaddistown and 
taught school for three months. Thus he ob- 
tained money to pay his tuition debt and to con- 
tinue his studies. His teacher now was the skilful 
and widely-known Wesley Leverett. His prog- 
ress was all that the most exacting instructor could 
require. His strong thirst for knowledge and his 
native powers of application and mental labor 
astonished his experienced preceptor. Again his 
money gave out, but there was now no lack of 
friends to trust and encourage a lad with habits 
so admirable, and with such irresistible determina- 
tion to excel. Beginning with his Gaddistown 
training, in two years this astonishing youth fitted 
himself to enter an advanced class in college, but 
for this he had not the means. 

In January, 1844, now twenty-two years of age, 
he returned to Georgia and opened what was 
termed an "academy" in Canton, Cherokee 
County. As a teacher he was eminently success- 
ful. He opened his academy with six scholars, and 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 233 

soon had sixty. By the end of the year he had 
made and saved enough money to return to South 
Carolina and repay every dollar he had borrowed. 
Ever believing with the Greek proverb that u toil 
is the sire of fame," in his academy days at Can- 
ton he had devoted his evenings and Saturdays to 
the study of law. This he continued during the 
year 1845. ^ n consideration of his board, at the 
same time he acted as tutor for the children of his 
friend, Dr. John W. Lewis. In August, 1845, 
after an exhaustive examination he was admitted 
to the bar of the Superior Court. It is said that 
he answered but one question incorrectly. Even 
now he was perhaps better prepared for success 
in his profession than many who seek its opportu- 
nities, but the awakened soul of the youth was im- 
bued with the loftiest ambition. He meant to be 
a great lawyer. He knew that to be a great law- 
yer he must possess and utilize that broad and lib- 
eral knowledge of jurisprudence which can best be 
acquired in a great school of law. Borrowing the 
necessary means from his devoted friend, Dr. 
Lewis, in October, 1845, ne matriculated in the 
Law School of Yale College. Gratitude and fidel- 
ity to friends was a passion with Joseph E. Brown. 
The kindly patron of these struggling days lived 
to receive from the hands of his grateful protege 
the positions of Superintendent of the State Road, 
and Senator of the Confederate States. 

The renown of the great school in which he was 
now a student has ever been co-extensive with the 
limits of our country. Then as now, probably a 
majority of its students were the sons of wealthy 
parentage. Then as now, its curriculum embraced 
two years of legal study. Then as now, a course 



234 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

so extended and expensive was utterly impossible 
to men like young Brown, who, without means, 
were desperately struggling to secure the oppor- 
tunities and privileges of the legal profession. 
There are indeed in our State to-day hundreds of 
young men qualified by nature to excel in the noble 
profession of the law, the talented sons of families 
whose all was swept away by the fiery tide of revo- 
lution, to whom a two years' course in a law school 
is not more possible than it was to the son of 
Mackay Brown. It was found, however, that the 
requirements of Yale could bend to the necessities 
of Gaddistown. More than once I had it from his 
own lips that in one year he mastered the studies 
and stood the examinations for the entire two 
years' course. He received his degree at Yale in 
1846. He returned to Georgia, "hung out his 
shingle" at Canton, and began the practice of his 
chosen profession. So swiftly did he win the con- 
fidence of the people that in the first year, in that 
country of small fees, he made twelve hundred 
dollars. Nulla vestigia retrorsum. His income 
steadily increased. He not only made money, but 
he saved it. 

His next step was not less interesting. Familiar 
with his Bible, he had doubtless read the conserva- 
tive language of the experienced Solomon, "Whoso 
findeth a wife findeth a good thing." The year 
after his admission to the bar he was married in 
1847 t0 Miss Elizabeth Gresham, a daughter of 
the Rev. Joseph Gresham, a Baptist minister of 
Pickens District, South Carolina. To the day of 
his death she was a noble helpmeet. Surely there 
is something mysterious, if not celestial in the in- 
fection or contagion which men term love. The 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 235 

germs are everywhere, or anywhere — in the beauty 
of a flower whose loveliness is paled by the snowy 
breast it would adorn, the fragrance of a dainty 
note, the flutter of a ribbon, the frou-frou of a 
silken skirt. This mysterious influence, whatever 
it is, attended the meeting of Joe Brown and his 
future wife. When a happy old lady, and mem- 
ory brought back the features that love used to 
wear, she told me that her father lived in the coun- 
try and that the young lawyer came to his house. 
He was riding a gray horse, she said, and asked 
lodging for the night. She saw him as he entered, 
and we may presume, with maidenly modesty, 
withdrew to the kitchen. There some member of 
the family asked her who he was. She said that 
she at once replied, "I never saw him before and 
don't know his name, but he is the man I am going 
to marry." The union was indeed felicitous. Un- 
surpassed in the duties and devotions of the wife, 
and of mother to her many children, her gentle 
nature tempered the stern combativeness of the 
man and contributed to train him in the placid 
courtesy which in later life often disarmed his 
enemies, often won them as recruits to the army 
of his friends. For many years she was his 
amanuensis. His writing, like that of many great 
men was laborious and at times well-nigh illegible. 
Hers was clear, fluent, and graceful. For centuries 
it is possible that in the archives of Georgia will 
be found State papers written by the husband in 
the crisis of our history, and recorded for posterity 
by the hand of the wife. When Chief Justice, it 
was his custom to write in an upper room of his 
dwelling his great opinions, and as the successive 
pages were completed, from the head of the stairs 



236 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

he would drop them to the floor below, and in in- 
tervals stolen from household or social demands, 
these she would swiftly and accurately copy. Well 
did the life of this unpretentious and lovely woman 
confirm the philosophy of Euripides, "Man's 
greatest possession is a sympathetic wife." 

The young lawyer was astonishingly successful. 
To the oratory of the schools he made little pre- 
tention. There is, however, an oratory, or more 
correctly an eloquence, which is often quite as 
effective. It is found in conciseness, simplicity, 
clearness of language, mastery of facts, and in the 
skill and ingenuity with which these are presented 
in order to persuade or to convince. This elo- 
quence he had in rare excellence. Imperturbable, 
dead game, and relentless, he was a terror to his 
adversaries and as successful with the juries as 
with the courts. The same faculties were utilized 
in the broader arena of debate to which he came 
in his later successes. One such instance I heard 
in a contest he had with Senator Mahone. It 
seemed that the Virginian had impugned his dis- 
interestedness because he was president of a rail- 
road company. The reply of the Georgian was as 
crushing as characteristic. "The Senator from 
Virginia," he said, "tells this body that I am presi- 
dent of a railroad company. The charge is true. 
That company, let me say, is in a high state of 
prosperity. So good are its securities that none 
of them are on the market. It pays handsome 
dividends, and is rapidly increasing in value. The 
Senator from Virginia, I am told, is also president 
of a railroad company, and that company is in the 
hands of a receiver." 

Admitted to the bar as we have seen in 1846, 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 237 

in 1 849 his serious political career began. Having 
received the Democratic nomination, he was 
elected to the State Senate in a district composed 
of the counties of Cherokee and Cobb. But this 
was not the first evidence of his strength with the 
people. While yet a boy he strolled over to what 
is called the "law ground" in Gaddistown. An 
election for bailiff of the militia district was in 
progress. The opposing candidates were not sat- 
isfactory. The electors discovered the lad as he 
approached. "Let's elect Joe," some one said, 
and by a large majority it was promptly done. The 
legislature of i849-'50 contained many distin- 
guished men. Despite his youth, Senator Brown 
was now practically the leader of the Democrats. 
The courtly and scholarly Andrew J. Miller of 
Richmond County was undoubtedly the leader of 
the Whigs, and it was not long before he de- 
clared, "Joe Brown will yet stamp the impress of 
his greatness on the future history of the State." 
The entry of Joseph E. Brown into the politics 
of Georgia was the beginning of a new regime. 
Theretofore, with rare exception, men of wealthy 
families and ancient social prestige, of polished 
manners, with all the advantages of collegiate and 
general culture, had dominated the State politics 
and borne off the honors within the gift of the peo- 
ple. It may be easily conceived that at this period 
of his life Senator Brown had little encourage- 
ment from men of this exclusive and somewhat 
inperious class. Many were the witticisms leveled 
at his agricolous appearance, and at the rustic 
vocabulary of his constituents, which even to this 
day betray much of the language of Shakespeare, 
and much of the language of Chaucer. Years 



238 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

afterwards, in a great speech before the General 
Assembly of Georgia, he gave his own conception 
of the attitude of this once dominant class toward 
him. "There is a class of people in this State, " 
he said, "whose fathers a generation or two back 
possessed either wealth or distinction. They or 
their descendants were large slaveholders and they 
were usually classed as the aristocracy of the 
South. They are sometimes termed by the com- 
mon people, the 'kid-glove aristocracy.' Either 
fortunately or unfortunately for me, I never be- 
longed to that class. I had to work my own way 
in the world. I was brought up among the work- 
ing-class, rose from the mass of the people. They 
took me by the hand and sustained me because 
they believed I was true to them, I was one of 
them, and they have never forsaken me in any in- 
stance where the popular vote could be heard." 

Returning from the Senate, the Honorable 
Joseph E. Brown entered upon the active practice 
of the law, but in the fall of 1855 he was nomi- 
nated and elected by the people as Judge of the 
Superior Court of his circuit. In this station his 
career was most remarkable. Indeed, no other 
under government is so vital to the public welfare. 
The judge of that great court, having general 
jurisdiction, can become the most sovereign agent 
of reform, or the most insidious and baleful pro- 
tector of immorality, of vice, and of dangerous 
crime. Judge Brown measured fully up to the ob- 
ligations of this lofty station. He commanded 
order in the court-room. He quietly enforced 
the most rigid discipline. He dispatched business 
rapidly. He held discursive counsel to the point 
and stopped them when he had heard enough. His 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 239 

judgments were promptly and decisively made. To 
this day in the Blue Ridge Circuit very old men 
declare that Joe Brown made the very best judge 
they ever had. At times, it is true, he had to re- 
press the familiarity of his political supporters. 
His valuable friend on election day was Bob Ral- 
ston, a famous character of Gilmer County. Pre- 
suming upon his services, Bob bet a friend a pint 
of apple brandy that he (Bob) could with impu- 
nity go into court and give "Joe Brown" the Ma- 
sonic sign. While not a Mason, Bob conceived 
that he had detected and acquired one of the most 
important signals of that ancient order. This was 
a snap of the finger and at the same time a wink 
of the eye. Bob repaired to court, leaned against 
the bar, caught the attention of his honor, snapped 
his finger, and winked his eye. "Take that gentle- 
man to jail until he cools off," was the unapprecia- 
tive response from the bench. The next morning 
the resentful Bob made the streets of Ellijay vocal 
with denunciations of the ingratitude of men in 
high places, but his knowledge of the secrets of 
Masonry thenceforth was coram non judice. Our 
judges in those early days did not always have the 
conventional instrumentalities for the enforcement 
of law. On one occasion Judge Brown convened 
court in one of the new mountain counties. There 
had been no time to build a court-house, but a rude 
log structure had been hastily erected. The court 
was convened with the accustomed solemnities, and 
pretty soon discovered that the county bully was 
drunk. His screams and curses quickly attracted 
the attention of the Judge, who quietly said: "Mr. 
Sheriff, arrest that man who is creating a disturb- 
ance and bring him before the court." The sheriff 



2 4 o JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

with several stalwart deputies dragged in the 
offender. The Judge ordered the prisoner to jail. 
"Why, your honor," said the sheriff, "we have got 
no jail." "That's a fact," said the Judge, "but 
have you no house where you can secure him?" 
"There is not a house in the town," was the reply, 
"that he won't kick out of in five minutes." At 
this moment a little man in a drab suit, which be- 
trayed the Quaker, arose among the audience and 
with deferential manner addressed the court. He 
said, "May it please your honor, I am a miner. I 
have been prospecting for copper near the village 
and I have run a tunnel some three feet in diam- 
eter and thirty feet deep into the bank on the side 
of the road, down near the creek. The tunnel is 
dry, and I think that your honor might direct the 
sheriff to put the gentleman in there." "Why, 
that's a good idea," said Judge Brown. "Mr. 
Sheriff, put some straw in the tunnel so that the 
prisoner can sleep off his drunk without taking 
cold; haul a load of rails there and stop him up 
safely until to-morrow morning." It was accord- 
ingly done. 

Judge Brown was now thirty-six years of age. 
The time had come for the lad from Gaddistown 
to step forth into the limelight of lofty civic sta- 
tion. Ever cherishing and loving the people 
among whom he was reared, and who supported 
him in his early struggles, he was now to leave 
them to return no more. On the 19th of June, 
1857, while binding wheat on his farm in Chero- 
kee County, he received the Democratic nomina- 
tion for Governor of Georgia. 

The opponents of the Democrats in that day 
called themselves the American party. By the 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 241 

Democrats they were called "Know Nothings." 
They had a secret organization, of which they 
would not speak, and when asked about its ritual, 
a member would say, "I know nothing." This 
party nominated as its candidate for Governor 
that illustrious Georgian, Benjamin H. Hill. As a 
popular orator, there are many who doubt whether 
America has ever produced the superior of that 
great man. It has been the privilege of the 
speaker to hear many of his famous contempora- 
ries, but not one with such irresistible power of 
persuasive and compelling speech. No man can be 
a great orator who is not a good man, and Mr. 
Hill was as good as great. With such an oppo- 
nent the Democrats were much perturbed. Their 
apprehensions were soon discovered to be ground- 
less. The joint discussion between the candidates 
began at Newnan. In the first speeches it is re- 
lated that Mr. Hill had much the advantage, but 
Brown rapidly found himself. He talked in sim- 
ple style, but his words went home. No matter 
how cruelly he was wounded by Mr. Hill's cutting 
invective, he never winced. The plain people 
would carry home with them the shrewd and 
homely philosophy of the mountain candidate. 
This was often expressed, no doubt with purpose, 
in their vernacular and dialect. A famous expres- 
sion of Brown which doubtless changed many 
votes is still recalled. "I confess," said he, "that 
Mr. Hill is a great orator, but he lacks judgment" 
The opponents of Brown made fun because in 
honor of his nomination his lady friends in Chero- 
kee County had made him a calico bed quilt. This 
was bad politics, for most of the voters reposed 
under quilts of that material. 



242 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

Seventeen years after the day when we found 
the Gaddistown boy driving his little steers 
through the Woody Gap, by a majority of more 
than 10,000 over his renowned opponent, he was 
elected Governor of Georgia. A new era now 
began in the State. Coming directly from the 
plain people, it was soon perceived that the young 
Governor meant to protect his constituency against 
many dominant and damaging influences. He had 
no particular reverence for great families, or great 
names. The frowns of the mighty affected him 
not at all. His inauguration in 1857 is perhaps 
remembered by some who hear me. His inaugural 
address was brief, but with a few quiet words he 
gave to lawless financiers a shock which made 
them quiver. "In the midst of prosperity," he 
said, "our banks have generally suspended specie 
payment, resulting in panic, broken confidence, and 
general stagnation in commerce." He then grimly 
observed that in his judgment the suspension was 
unnecessary, and that he should at once begin pro- 
ceedings under the law to forfeit bank charters. 
Neither threats nor prayers moved him. It is true 
that by a two-thirds majority a bill was passed by 
the Legislature suspending forfeiture proceedings 
against the banks for one year. The Governor 
wrote a veto message which was a brave appeal to 
the people. The substance was that private citi- 
zens had to meet their obligations; banks should 
do so. To the amazement of the bank advocates, 
the people of the State almost to a man came 
swiftly to the side of their Chief Executive. In 
other matters of utmost importance, his adminis- 
tration was accorded by the people equivalent ap- 
probation. In the next convention of his party, 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 243 

after a whirlwind of that laudatory eloquence with 
which Georgians have ever been gifted, he was 
unanimously nominated to succeed himself, and at 
the polls over Warren Akin, nominee of the Amer- 
ican party, he obtained more than double the ma- 
jority of his first election. In religious faith the 
Governor ever adhered to the church of John Bun- 
yan and Roger Williams. Among the many 
statements published by his opponents with a view 
to his injury, one was that he had packed the offices 
of the State Road with his Baptist friends. A sta- 
tistical Baptist rushed to his defense. It appeared 
that among the employes there were seven Luther- 
ans, eight Episcopalians, fifteen Catholics, thirty- 
one Presbyterians, fifty-seven Methodists and only 
seventy-seven Baptists. Well might the Governor 
have said with Warren Hastings, "When I reflect 
upon my opportunities, I am astonished at my 
moderation." 

It is well known that with the War between the 
States Governor Brown's second administration 
will be forever identified. That there were strong 
divisions among the people of the State is well 
known. That he favored secession is also well 
known. While supporting Breckinridge, absorbed 
with gubernatorial duties, he had taken little part 
in those furious debates which resulted in the Iliad 
of our woes. At the time he seems to have been 
much more busily engaged with caring for the ma- 
terial and moral interests of the State, and with his 
efforts to compel the banks to resume specie pay- 
ment. But while the mountain Governor had done 
little in the throes of the revolution born in the 
secession of Georgia on the 1 9th of January, 1 86 1 , 
from that time on, in his mobilization of Georgia's 



244 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

military forces he rivalled Carnot, whom Napo- 
leon termed the "organizer of victory." He had 
previously taken Fort Pulaski, commanding the 
mouth of the Savannah River. He now seized the 
United States arsenal at Augusta. The latter sta- 
tion was under the command of a Captain Elzey. 
The Governor himself was present at the sur- 
render. It is related when the Stars and Stripes 
were hauled down that refreshments were ordered. 
It is probable that these preceded the following 
memorable and feeling, but under the circum- 
stances somewhat ambiguous, sentiment proposed 
by the gallant Colonel Henry R. Jackson: "The 
flag of stars and stripes, may it never be disgraced 
while it floats over a true Southern patriot." Gov- 
ernor Brown, while not drinking wine, with his ac- 
customed suavity proposed a toast to Captain 
Elzey, in which he paid that officer a merited and 
generous compliment. It is probable that the 
Governor was in a complimentary vein, for the 
Federal officer had just surrendered a large quan- 
tity of fine ordnance — two batteries of twelve- 
pound howitzers, two other cannon, twenty-two 
thousand muskets and rifles, most of them of su- 
perior make, and heavy stores of powder, grape 
and other ammunition. But if the Governor was 
decisive in his bearing toward the United States, 
his conduct toward Union men in the section of 
Georgia from which he came was marked by a 
gentle diplomacy which a Talleyrand could not 
have surpassed. The spirit of devotion to the 
Union was ardent in the county of Pickens. There 
a United States flag was raised and kept floating 
even after secession. This was in bold defiance of 
the Confederate authorities. Many appeals were 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 245 

made to the Governor to send troops to cut it 
down. "By no means," said he, "let it float. It 
floated over our fathers and we all love the flag 
now. We have only been compelled to lay it aside 
by the injustice that has been practiced under its 
folds. If the people of Pickens desire to hang it 
out, and keep it there, let them do so. I will send 
no troops to interfere with it." 

Indeed, to his untiring energy, his foresight^ and 
sagacity may justly be ascribed the fact that Geor- 
gia sent out 30,000 troops armed by the State. 
No other State in the South sent so many armed 
troops to the Confederate Army. 

Responding to a strong demand from the peo- 
ple, Governor Brown now became a candidate for 
a third term. He was not to be without opposi- 
tion. A convention was at once demanded, but 
many counties called meetings and by resolutions 
refused to send delegates. However, the conven- 
tion met. It had delegates from only fifty-eight 
out of the one hundred and thirty-two counties. 
Judge Eugenius A. Nisbet received its nomination. 
Here was a foeman worthy of the Governor s 
steel. Indeed, Governor Brown had the good for- 
tune never to run against an unworthy man. Not- 
withstanding his vast public services, the effort to 
defeat him was tremendous. The State press, al- 
most solid against him, was unsparing in its as- 
saults. He refused to make any canvass. One 
short and moderate paper he issued. "It is in- 
sisted," said he, "that it has not been the usage for 
the same person to hold the office of Governor for 
three terms. This is certainly true. And it is 
equally true that it has not been the usage for 
Georgia to have in the field 30,000 troops called 



246 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

out by the Executive, whose duty it is to know 
when, and with what preparation, each company 
went to the field, what had been supplied to them, 
and what they lack. Whether the public good re- 
quires that he who conducted these affairs from the 
beginning, should retire in the midst of them and 
give place to a new man, who has yet to learn the 
condition of the financial affairs of the State, and 
the location and necessities of our troops, is a ques- 
tion which the farmers, merchants, and mechanics 
of our State are, I think, as competent to decide at 
the ballot-box as a few politicians and political as- 
pirants are to decide in caucus at Milledgeville." 
The precedent of a century was overruled. His 
majority over Nisbet was 13,691. 

At this time the influence of Georgia with the 
Confederate Government was not commensurate 
with the great power of the State, nor with the 
enormous exertions it had made for the Confed- 
erate cause. Mr. Stephens, Vice-President, had 
early and decided differences with Mr. Davis. 
Since neither would yield, the Vice-President was 
practically eliminated. Many of our most famous 
leaders, such men as A. R. Lawton, Howell Cobb, 
T. R. R. Cobb, A. R. Wright, Henry L. Benning, 
Alfred H. Colquitt, and Robert Toombs had en- 
tered the army and were generals on the firing-line. 
It followed that to Governor Brown was relegated 
the duty of protecting the rights of the State from 
what he and thousands of the people deemed the 
unconstitutional legislation of Congress. 

The Conscription Act of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment was passed in April, 1862. Most un- 
wisely it exempted from its operation men who 
owned or worked twenty negroes. Then for the 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 247 

first time poor men who did not wish to enter the 
service were compelled to do so. Then for the 
first time was heard the cry, a "rich man's war, 
and a poor man's fight." Certainly in Georgia 
there was no occasion for a conscript law. The 
vast majority of our volunteers were not slave- 
holders. Said "Bill Arp" in an article published 
not long before his death: "Out of every hundred 
soldiers who volunteered to defend the Southern 
cause, eighty-five of them had no interest in the 
negro. The proportion of non-slaveholding pri- 
vates was indeed much greater, for few of them 
were made officers." The same famous writer 
states, "I know of one company of eight-five good 
men from Murray County without a slaveholder 
among the privates." The last call made on the 
Governor before the conscript law itself was en- 
acted was for twelve regiments. He promptly 
furnished eighteen, and he stated that he could 
have raised fifty if Mr. Davis had called for so 
many. Now all was changed. Not only were 
Georgians to be conscripted, taken from their 
homes and organized into companies, regiments, 
and brigades, but the men who were to command 
them, who were to look after their sustenance 
when they were well, who were to look to their 
nursing when they were ill, and on whose judgment 
and discreet military conduct they were to rely in 
the deadly press of battle, might be wholly un- 
known to them. The native American is a fighting 
man of no mean effectiveness, but the very nature 
of his institutions has trained him to demand that 
he shall, whenever possible, be permitted to know 
the men on whose judgment and courage, whose 
kindliness and sympathy he is driven to rely in the 



248 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

awful fortunes of war. While the Governor 
obeyed the various conscript laws, it was not with- 
out sternest protest against their impolicy, and 
their unconstitutionality. Nor was he less deter- 
mined in his insistence on the right of Georgia to 
name the officers who were to command Geor- 
gians. In all of these contentions he had the un- 
swerving support of such great lawyers and states- 
men as Alexander and Linton Stephens, William 
Dougherty, and Robert Toombs. 

When on November 6, 1862, the legislature 
met, it might have ascertained that Georgia, in- 
spired by the gigantic energy of her Executive, had 
exhibited the most astonishing military potency. 
To the field she had sent 75,000 men. In the 
mean time, the Confederate Congress had passed 
an additional act extending the conscription so as 
to embrace all men between thirty-five and forty- 
five years of age. Governor Brown immediately 
wrote Mr. Davis that since this would disband the 
militia of Georgia, he would not permit enrolment 
under it until the legislature met and acted on the 
subject. The legislature was now in session and 
did nothing but debate. However, for the courts 
two cases were made. The Supreme Court sus- 
tained the constitutionality of the law, but it also 
held that the officers of the State were not subject 
to conscription. It followed that from Chief Jus- 
tice to constable there was an instant increase in 
the desirability and dignity of State offices. 

On the 1 8th of November the election for Con- 
federate States Senator came on. Herschel V. 
Johnson, one of the most ardent opponents of the 
conscription law, was a candidate. Mr. Whittle, 
of Bibb County, raised the question of his attitude 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 249 

relative to conscription. But on the second ballot, 
having received one hundred and eleven votes, this 
great Georgian was elected. At that time General 
Toombs, who had resigned from the Confederate 
service, and now commanded a mounted regiment 
of State troops, was also a candidate. One of his 
military family, Mr. John White, of Athens, once 
gave me rather an amusing account of the Gen- 
eral's conduct on this occasion. He left camp in 
the full uniform of his rank, and went up to Mil- 
ledgeville, where the legislature was to vote. A 
day or two later he came back clad in the full 
senatorial costume of the ante-bellum days, com- 
prising in part a broad-brim stove-pipe hat, a 
broadcloth shad-belly coat, a gold-headed cane, 
and an enormous watch fob. Besides his attire he 
was additionally a little disguised. When asked 
the result of the election, he hotly replied: "John- 
son was elected. The fools thought they 

were voting for Andy Johnson." 

The war had now been in progress less than two 
years, and appalling indeed was the mass of suf- 
fering among the people. To relieve this, Gov- 
ernor Brown devoted his utmost energy. Two 
and a half millions of dollars had been distributed 
between the two sessions of the General Assembly. 
There were 84,119 beneficiaries of this fund. Of 
these, 45,718 were children who had been de- 
prived of their protectors and support; 22,637 
kinswomen of poor men who were at the front; 
8492 were the orphans; and 4003 the widows of 
deceased or killed soldiers. Besides, 550 were 
helpless soldiers disabled in service. Nothing 
could be more eloquent of the awful magnitude 
and fearful destructiveness of that terrible revolu- 



2 5 o JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

tion. Indeed, no man did so much as our War 
Governor to furnish not only the people at home, 
but the troops at the front, with clothing and 
shoes, with provisions and with salt. This was 
not only from the public appropriations, but from 
his private means. It is related that in March, 
1863, a gentleman followed him to his farm in 
Cherokee County. As he neared the farm he 
overtook a caravan of wagons, and crowds of peo- 
ple walking, going in the same direction. When 
he arrived, he found a multitude of others, and 
the Governor in person engaged at his corn crib in 
giving away $4000 worth of corn and shucks from 
his own supplies, in proportion to their necessities 
and the size of their families, to the poor people 
of the county. 

By this time the biennial election of 1863 was 
approaching. The long strain upon Governor 
Brown had been tremendous. More than once 
during his term he had been very ill. It was his 
wish to retire from the gubernatorial chair, but 
the people would not permit it. Distinguished 
officers at the front wrote to him that his continu- 
ance in office was indispensable. In response to 
the popular demand, from a stern sense of duty, 
and again without a nomination, he again became 
a candidate. The Atlanta Gazette nominated 
ex-Senator Joshua Hill, and the Milledgeville Re- 
corder put up Honorable T. M. Furlow. Gov- 
ernor Brown day and night toiled in the executive 
office in Milledgeville, and left his canvass to take 
care of itself. In bitterness the campaign equalled 
any of the others. But such a renowned paper as 
the Mobile Register, edited by the famous John 
Forsyth, declared: "We look upon Mr. Brown as 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 251 

a model War Governor, a veritable Stonewall 
Jackson among the State executives." What 
Georgia thought of him was in evidence when the 
polls were closed. He received 36,558 votes, 
more than doubling the vote of Joshua Hill, and 
more than trebling the vote of Furlow. He had a 
majority over both of 8312. There was an army 
vote in seventy-three Georgia regiments at the 
front. It aggregated 15,223. Of these Brown 
received 10,012. 

Would that I knew, and yet I scarcely dare pic- 
ture, how and where that soldier vote was cast. 
On what ensanguined field, by what historic 
streams? Were the polls opened on the rushing 
Rapidan or by the sullen Chickamauga? Oh, 
where did the gaunt and ragged Georgians vote? 
Was election music or election banners lacking? 
No. The one was the hiss of the Minies and the 
thudding of the guns; the other, the shell-riven 
fragments of that banner whose story "sung by 
poets and by sages shall go sounding down througn 
ages." Campaign documents, were they lacking? 
No, by the thousands they were there, carefully 
cherished in jackets of gray. Letters from home 
they were. They told the story of suffering wives, 
and starving children, but also they told how the 
messenger from the Governor had brought bread 
and clothing to aged parents, to wives and little 
ones. And that Governor, the soldiers shrewdly 
knew, had also furnished the threadbare clothes 
they wore, the thin blankets looped across their 
broad shoulders, the best he could get; aye the 
very arms they bore, and thickly fell the votes of 
Georgia boys for the boy from Gaddistown. 
Piteous is the story told by that soldier vote — 111 



252 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

all only fifteen thousand. One hundred and twenty 
thousand of her youth and manhood had Georgia 
given to the red-cross flag. Where were they 
now? Pallid and suffering prisoners of war. 
Agonized with wounds and with disease in the 
crowded wards of dreary hospitals. How many 
are sleeping in the gloomy shades of the Wilder- 
ness; how many under the crumbling ramparts of 
Vicksburg; what multitudes on the fateful slopes 
and amid the battle-riven rocks of those heights of 
Gettysburg, from whose gory summits, the high- 
water mark of the Confederacy, had recoiled the 
wave red with the blood of heroes? Where'er 
thou sleepest — 

"Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead ! 
Dear as the blood ye gave ; 
No impious footsteps there shall tread 
The herbage of your grave. 

Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where valor proudly sleeps." 

Since first the morning stars sang together, no 
greater tribute of fidelity to duty, of humanity to 
suffering, of faithfulness in all things, has come 
to mortal man than the confidence and love re- 
corded by that immortal remnant, Georgia's sol- 
dier vote. 

Despite his absorbing executive duties in those 
famous days, Governor Brown was not indifferent 
to the moral and spiritual status of the people. He 
found time that year to attend and take part in the 
deliberations of the Baptist biennial convention 
which met in Augusta, and took part then in a great 
debate between Dr. Broadus and Dr. Boyce. He 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 253 

also aided in the distribution of religious literature 
among the Georgia troops — literature whose un- 
bending orthodoxy, we may be sure, was not in- 
harmonious with the teachings of that great de- 
nomination of which he was ever a devoted 
member. 

At the close of 1863 the western army of the 
South lay crushed and demoralized at Dalton. The 
ill-fated Bragg, ever a favorite in Richmond, had 
been forced by public opinion to withdraw from 
his command. That incomparable organizer and 
master of defensive warfare, General Joseph E. 
Johnston, was appointed to succeed him. Instantly 
his reviving influence upon the broken and shat- 
tered brigades, which had been driven pell mell 
from Missionary Ridge, was felt throughout the 
South, and was observed by the Northern com- 
manders. While the army was in winter quarters 
at Dalton its morale was completely restored. 
Each brigade vied with all the others in the per- 
formance of every military duty. The soldiers 
were well fed and carefully re-clothed. Drills and 
manoeuvres with large bodies, now so common in 
European armies, were utilized by General John- 
ston to familiarize the rank and file with extensive 
operations, and to kindle anew their confidence in 
themselves. The spirits of the troops were raised 
to the highest pitch of warlike enthusiasm. Well 
do I recall that a comrade in that glorious brigade 
afterwards said to me that he heard General 
Johnston exclaim, "If any command in the army 
can beat the brigade drill of Lewis's Kentuckians, 
it can beat Hardee's tactics." 

The campaign in north Georgia which General 
Johnston conducted in 1864 is worthy to rank with 



254 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

the campaigns of Fabius. General Sherman had 
98,797 men, and 254 cannon. This was more 
than double the strength of the Confederate army 
opposed to him. That army was the last hope of 
Georgia, and of the South. Should it be destroyed, 
the State would be overrun, the surrender of Lee, 
and the downfall of the Confederacy, but a ques- 
tion of time. The policy of General Johnston was 
to shelter his army, draw Sherman away from his 
base of supplies, interrupt his communications, in- 
flict upon his adversary losses as heavy as possible, 
and when he had reached the great entrenched 
camp constituted by the fortifications of Atlanta, 
to hold this with the State troops and a slender 
force of his own veterans, mass his army, assail 
the flank of his enemy, and like Stonewall Jackson 
at Chancellorsville, roll the opposing lines in a 
sheet of flame to their destruction. Never was an 
army handled with more consummate skill. Never 
did a retreating army have more confidence in its 
power to defeat the enemy when its General should 
order the attack. When an order to retreat was 
given, the retirement was conducted with a defiant 
composure, and with an insolent fronting to the 
rear which was a little short of military insult. It 
was a common saying of the day that Johnston 
would form a line of battle if a wagon broke down. 
In no case from Dalton to Atlanta were his lines 
broken. For seventy-four days he was fighting 
an army double his own. He lost in killed and 
wounded 9,450 men and inflicted on Sherman a 
loss of more than 42,000 men. When the fateful 
and fatal order came from Mr. Davis for his 
removal from command, he turned over to General 
Hood a seasoned army of 50,627 veterans, with a 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 255 

morale as high as that of Napoleon at Austerlitz, 
or of Lee at Fredericksburg. Students of military 
history, who have learned from the campaigns of 
the great Frederick and of Napoleon the military 
value of entrenched camps, such as that which 
Johnston had now reached, can appreciate the ca- 
lamity which came to the Southern arms by his 
removal. 

On the 1 8th of July Hood took command of that 
gallant army. At once hurled against the entrench- 
ments, the massed artillery and the repeating rifles 
of Sherman, the evening of the 22d found its ef- 
fectiveness practically destroyed. It was further 
depleted by many successive days of deadly fight- 
ing. It was now openly announced by the highest 
Confederate authority that Hood's army would be 
sent against Sherman's communications in Tennes- 
see. General Sherman at once declared, "If Hood 
will go to Tennessee, I will give him rations to go 
with." He did go, and the heroic remnant of that 
army which under Johnston had made the names 
of rivers, and ridges, of villages, and country 
churches in north Georgia forever glorious in the 
annals of defensive warfare, slaughtered on the 
bloody ramparts of Franklin, and in the carnage 
amid the ice and snow of Nashville, soon ceased 
to exist. 

In this tremendous crisis in the history of our 
State, Governor Brown in aid of Johnston put 
forth the utmost resources of that genius for com- 
bination and that capacity for detail which were na- 
tive with him, and which had been developed and 
strengthened by the weighty duties of his long pub- 
lic life. Such is the testimony of General Johnston 
himself as recorded in his Narrative. The Georgia 



256 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

State troops loyally seconded their Governor. 
Both General Johnston and General Hood have 
put on record high estimates of their steadiness 
and valor. This force was largely composed of old 
men not included in the conscription laws, of State 
officers, and of boys between sixteen and eighteen. 
It is widely known, and is demonstrable by offi- 
cial records, how gallantly these inexperienced 
Georgians fought in the battles around Atlanta, 
how on Sherman's march to the sea their resolute 
courage on the heights of East Macon, in sight 
of the spot where I now stand, saved our own 
beautiful city from the possible fate of Atlanta and 
Columbia; how at Griswoldville, ten miles away, 
they desperately fought with fearful losses, how 
they crossed the river into South Carolina, and at 
Grahamville repulsed and drove back with utter 
defeat a powerful expedition moving to close Har- 
dee's line of retreat from Savannah, and thus saved 
18,000 Confederate troops from certain capitu- 
lation. 

It is impossible in this day and time to conceive 
the distress, humiliation, and despair of the people 
of Georgia at the time of which I speak. Abject 
misery like a pall enshrouded almost every home. 
The people were steeped in poverty to the very 
lips. In homes of former affluence children were 
crying for bread. Not until two years later was it 
possible that full information of the State's losses 
by the war could be obtained. In these two years 
our staple, cotton, had brought sometimes a dollar 
a pound, and always more than it had ever brought 
before. There had been a marked recuperation 
of our fortunes. But even then as compared with 
our condition in 1861 the aggregate wealth of the 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 257 

State had been reduced the almost incredible sum 
of $481,497,381. It is perhaps not generally 
known that Georgia had lost three-fourths of her 
entire wealth, and much more than any other 
Southern State. No other State in the Confed- 
eracy approximated ours in voluntary expendi- 
tures in aid of the war. Six millions of dollars 
had been expended for the destitute families of sol- 
diers, four millions in sending clothing alone, to 
our troops in the Confederate Army, six millions 
for the maintenance of the State troops, which the 
prescience of our Governor had foreseen would 
prove indispensable to the protection of our homes. 
During these gloomy days of energy and despair, 
for the shelter of the homeless, for the sustenance 
of the starving, for the restoration of order in the 
devastated section, by day and by night without a 
hopeless or idle moment, the Governor toiled as he 
had never toiled for the people whom he loved 
so well. 

After the fall of Macon, and the surrender of 
Lee and Johnston, Governor Brown with the State 
troops under his command also surrendered, and 
were paroled prisoners of war. General Sherman 
had declared that when the armies of the South 
surrendered, the autonomy of the States was eo 
instanti restored. This view of the Union general 
was at once repudiated by the Secretary of War, 
Edwin M. Stanton, and afterwards by such leaders 
as Thaddeus Stevens. It was, however, the unal- 
terable conviction of the great brain and the 
promptings of the magnanimous heart of Abraham 
Lincoln. William H. Seward, his brilliant Secre- 
tary of State, whose masterful diplomacy had con- 
tributed so much to the success of the Union arms 



258 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

and to the preservation of the Union itself, enter- 
tained the same opinion. And more conclusive 
than all, it was thus finally settled by the decision 
of the Supreme Court of the United States, in 
Texas v. White. In those thrilling words of Chief 
Justice Chase, which Senator George F. Hoar, in 
after years, declared had overturned, baffled, and 
brought to naught the policy of reconstruction, 
"The Constitution of the United States in all of its 
provisions looks to an indestructible Union of in- 
destructible States. The ordinances of secession 
were utterly without operation in law. It certainly 
follows that a State did not cease to be a State nor 
her citizens to be citizens of the Union." 

It was not difficult to convince our practical Gov- 
ernor that Georgia, having attempted to secede 
and having failed, had lost neither her status nor 
her rights as a member of the Union. Certain it is 
he acted as if the "late unpleasantness," as it was 
termed, should not disturb the orderly operations 
of the State. On the 22d of May, 1865, as he was 
accustomed to do of old, he convened the General 
Assembly in Milledgeville. Unhappily and to the 
consternation of that body, the next night the exec- 
utive mansion was surrounded by a military force, 
the parole of the Governor was ignored, he was 
permitted thirty minutes to make his arrangements 
for departure, but not allowed a moment of pri- 
vacy with his family, was hurried to Washington, 
and incarcerated in the old Capitol prison. It was, 
however, not long before he secured an interview 
with Andrew Johnson, then President. A minute 
of the conversation which ensued between these 
renowned Americans would be interesting reading. 
While in most respects they differed toto coelo, 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 259 

there were some points of resemblance between 
them. The reliance of both was on the masses of 
the plain people. Besides a strong and subtle sym- 
pathy must have existed because of the fact that 
both were Southern born. Of right-minded men, 
born under these genial skies, it may be said, that 
whatever their differences on questions of national 
polity, they ever cherish a common and tender 
sympathy for that homogeneous population, which 
here hands down from father to son the primitive 
virtues of the brave and kindly American stock. 
The meeting was in the White House. Those who 
knew him best can well imagine the wary and skil- 
ful diplomacy, and the exquisite judgment with 
which the Georgian, now for the first time a pris- 
oner of state, opened the vital question. At least 
my fancy does not hesitate. "Mr. President," he 
probably said, "I respectfully submit that I have 
not been rightfully treated by your subordinates, 
who, of course, I know must have acted without 
your knowledge or consent. Their conduct is not 
in accord with those principles of international law, 
or rather laws of war as laid down by Grotius in 
his great work De jure belli et pads, and other 
authorities with all of which Your Excellency is 
entirely familiar. The belligerent rights of the 
South have been recognized by the great powers, 
and by that powerful government to whose salva- 
tion Your Excellency has contributed so much. As 
Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of 
Georgia, I surrendered to General Wilson. In 
consideration of my parole not to bear arms 
against the United States until regularly exchanged, 
I was released. I have not been exchanged, neither 
have I borne arms against the United States. Not- 



260 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

withstanding this, I was arrested in the bosom of 
my family and brought under guard to this city 
where I am now in durance vile. I make my ap- 
peal for redress of these grievances to Your Excel- 
lency's sense of justice and statesmanship, the rep- 
utation of which is not restricted to the confines of 
this country." It is not surprising that by Execu- 
tive order he was immediately released. He at 
once returned to Georgia, and finding that he was 
not to be permitted to exercise the functions of his 
office, from a sense of self-respect, on the 28th of 
June, 1865, he resigned the gubernatorial station 
which he had held without a break since the year 

l8 57-. 

It is now known that while in Washington he 

had become apprised of the mighty forces at work 
to the injury of his section. These, the people here 
could only partially know, and could not appreci- 
ate at all. He publicly advised instant and entire 
acquiescence in the abolition of slavery, the cordial 
support of Johnson's administration, the prompt 
and general taking of amnesty, the general and un- 
equivocal recognition of the results of the war. In 
addition to this he strongly urged the Southern 
people to take such action as would win the power- 
ful friendship of General Grant, then the idol of 
the North. Indeed, the generosity of this great 
soldier to Lee and his starving veterans at Appo- 
mattox, and the fact that he had with indignation 
tendered his resignation as General-in-Chief of the 
United States Army, when Edwin M. Stanton in 
violation of the parole of the Confederate com- 
mander ordered the arrest of General Lee, might 
well have appealed to our gratitude, our confi- 
dence, and regard. Most unhappily for Governor 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 261 

Brown, we had little acquaintance with those prin- 
ciples of international law, which determine the 
powers of the conqueror, and which limit the rights 
of the vanquished. The people of the South were 
of a stock which, until then, for nearly a thousand 
years had scarcely seen a hostile soldier save as a 
prisoner of war. From the ashes of their homes 
they looked through the blood-shot vision of re- 
sentment and despair. Their condition was indeed 
anomalous. Organized government to negotiate 
for them did not exist. Their leaders were silent, 
or if they spoke, but added to the suspicion and 
misery, the travail and fury of the suffering masses. 
Perhaps Governor Brown failed to appreciate to 
the full how the people were stunned by their 
condition. Perhaps he did not reflect that nearly 
every home had its vacant chair; that one man 
whose draft for thousands would have been gladly 
honored in New Orleans or New York was now 
hard driven for bread and meat; that another 
whose equipages were once well known in Saratoga 
and Central Park, was now riding a heavily mort- 
gaged mule. Perhaps he did not fully realize that 
there must be lapse of time, and much time, before 
a people thus afflicted could take a dispassionate 
view of public affairs. Whatever may be the cause, 
he fearlessly and promptly gave his counsel and 
advice. His reason, briefly stated, was, "If we 
could not successfully resist the North when we 
had half a million bayonets in the field, how can 
we resist it when we have not one?" His advice 
was, "Let us therefore accept the situation and 
make the best of it." For years he had been swim- 
ming with sure and easy stroke on the floodtide of 
popular favor. He was now to suffer such a sav- 



262 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

age and merciless revulsion of feeling towards him, 
as a public man in this country has scarcely ever 
endured. He was, however, not to be the only 
victim of popular frenzy aroused by counsel which, 
though truthful and inevitable, was unpalatable to 
our people. Perhaps the memory of no Georgian 
is more tenderly cherished than that of Benjamin 
H. Hill. On the 8th of December, 1870, he in- 
formed his people that the Amendments to the 
Constitution were in fact, and would be held, the 
law, and fixed parts of the National Constitution; 
that these conferred new and enlarged powers of 
government, and established new and different re- 
lations between the governments of the States. 
While that has been expressly decided by reiterated 
decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, while the Democratic convention which 
nominated Horace Greeley in 1872, and every na- 
tional convention of that great party since that day, 
has either expressly or by implication, reiterated 
the same unanswerable truth, the vituperation with 
which the announcement of Mr. Hill was greeted, 
rivaled that which howled around the swerveless 
head of Governor Brown. Mr. Hill was called 
"Radical"; he was charged with selling out to the 
Republicans. How keenly he suffered from the 
odium which assailed him was known to his closest 
friends. But he met the storm bravely. In a pub- 
lic address he hurled a defiance at his detractors, 
which rings like the clang of steel. "I had rather," 
he exclaimed, "be the humblest of those who would 
save you and perish amid your curses than be the 
chiefest architect of your ruin and live forever the 
unworthy recipient of your deluded huzzas." This 
was in 1872. Three years later by an overwhelm- 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 263 

ing majority, in that mountain district which has 
ever cast the largest white vote in Georgia, he 
was swept into the proud position of Representa- 
tive in Congress. There, by his surpassing elo- 
quence, he defended the humanity and character 
of his people, and less than two years later, after a 
campaign of rarely equaled bitterness he was given 
to hold, with ever-increasing distinction to the day 
of his death, the lofty commission of Georgia in 
the Senate of the United States. Here he was 
soon joined by Joseph E. Brown. Inspiring com- 
mentary on the character and magnanimity of our 
institutions! Bitter rivals in the days of their 
youth, having done perhaps more than any others 
in civil life to uphold the fortunes of the Confed- 
eracy, par nobile fratrum, they were now welcomed 
by the magnanimous genius of free popular gov- 
ernment to the loftiest councils of that nation they 
had attempted to disrupt. There, with true and 
manly allegiance, renewed under its beauteous ban- 
ner, "with not a star erased and not a stripe pol- 
luted," with united hearts and locked shields for 
the defense of Georgia and the glory of the Great 
Republic they were henceforth to keep step to the 
music of the Union. Some there are in this vast 
audience, who for both, labored to bring about this 
great result. To both there was fierce opposition. 
In a great speech to the General Assembly of 
Georgia on the night of the 15th of November, 
1880, in clear, shrewd, and homely vein, quite as 
charming to his cultivated audience as it would 
have been to the accustomed gathering on the "law 
ground" at Gaddistown, Senator Brown gave illus- 
tration of the unreconciled, unreconstructed state 
of mind of certain of his opponents. He said: "It 



264 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

is very well illustrated by the story of the old gen- 
tleman in one of the counties between here and the 
Savannah River. He and his old lady started in 
the buggy to visit some friends and on the way had 
to cross the river. In going down into the flat, 
one of the straps broke, and the buggy ran upon the 
heels of the horse, and he kicked himself loose and 
ran back home. The good old lady, who believed 
in the policy of reconstructing, gathered up the 
fragments of the harness and started for home. 
The old man refused to go, but sat down on the 
river bank and commenced cursing. The old lady, 
however, carried the pieces home, got an awl and 
an 'end' as they call it, and began repairing the 
harness. And finding the horse at home, she told 
the servant to take him and go down to the river 
and meet the old man and bring him home. After 
an absence of an hour or so the servant returned, 
and she asked, 'Where is the old man?' And he 
said, 'He wouldn't come.' Then she said, 'What is 
he doing?' The servant said, 'He is still sittin' 
down on the river bank cussin'." 

The Senator continued, "We were obliged to 
move forward, but, like the good old lady, we sent 
the horse back for him, and he still refuses to 
come; and the report is that he is still sitting on 
the river bank 'cussin'.' And as the country must 
move forward, we are obliged to leave him there 
and let him cuss." He concluded that great speech 
with the brave declaration : "I feel that I have been 
true to you, true to my State, true to the whole 
country. I told you the truth when it was exceed- 
ingly unpalatable. I did not shrink from the re- 
sponsibility, and I have passed through a hard or- 
deal. I knew my vindication was only a question 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 265 

of time, and I have never doubted that truth would 
prevail." 

On the day following, by a two-thirds majority, 
over a most distinguished and worthy opponent, 
the General Assembly of Georgia elected him Sena- 
tor of the United States, and when the term for 
which he was then chosen had expired, with one 
exception, he received every vote, for the following 
Senatorial term. He was now an old man. Said 
Senator Lamar of Mississippi, "The ease and dig- 
nity and power with which he had established him- 
self as one of the leaders of the Senate was simply 
marvelous." Of his first speech Mr. Blaine play- 
fully said, "I never heard so fine a speech from so 
young a Senator." But once, and then only for a 
few hours, were Georgians distressed because of 
his Senatorial career. He became involved in a 
controversy with Senator Ingalls of Kansas. In- 
galls had obviously premeditated his attack. He 
was a master of mordacious and sarcastic English. 
With merciless and withering invective, he assailed 
the venerable and placid Senator from Georgia, 
who taken by surprise, and much to the discom- 
fiture of his friends, replied as best he could. 
Downcast and humiliated that day, were the 
Georgians in the Capital City, but before midnight 
their gloom was dispelled. That evening Senator 
Brown met his secretary, the late Henry Richard- 
son, whose visage would have made a frontispiece 
for the book of Lamentations. The Senator was 
entirely composed. He asked, "Henry, were you 
present at the debate this morning between the 
Senator from Kansas and myself?" "Yes, Sena- 
tor," said Henry, with downcast eyes. "Well, 
Henry," said the old gladiator, "if you think that 



266 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

I was too hard on him, remember that he brought 
it on himself." 

In all the intervening years and to the end of his 
strength he abated nothing of the energy of his 
life work, nor one whit of its usefulness and benefi- 
cence to his fellow-men. As Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Georgia he had handed down 
decisions, many of which will forever live as vital 
and controlling principles of our jurisprudence. 
Resigning this high station when he had many 
years to serve, he became president of the lessee 
company of that great railroad which is the prop- 
erty of the State. With fidelity the most scrupu- 
lous, in this capacity he performed its every obliga- 
tion. With that business sagacity which had ever 
marked him from boyhood, he had accumulated 
large wealth. This also, like his other powers, he 
used for the benefit of his fellow-men. Innumer- 
able were the instances of his private benevolence. 
While to the churches, charities, and denomina- 
tional colleges of his own faith he gave large sums, 
his munificence extended also to the charities of 
other denominations. Upon the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary of Louisville he bestowed 
an endowment of $53,000. His beloved son, 
Charles McDonald Brown, had died in young 
manhood. The bereaved father determined to 
create a monument to the dead son, "more endur- 
ing than brass and loftier than the regal summits 
of the pyramids." To the trustees of the Univer- 
sity of Georgia with habitual directness he wrote: 
"I know from experience in early life the feelings 
of a youth, desirous of educating himself, without 
the means to do so. I preferred to live plainly and 
cheaply and study hard, rather than be too much 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 267 

loaded with debt, but I considered myself very 
fortunate when I was able to borrow the amount 
actually necessary for the prosecution of my 
studies, even to a limited extent. And I doubt not 
there are at this time large numbers of young men 
in similar situations, who are prompted by the same 
feelings. The object of this donation is to establish 
a fund in the hands of the University, the interest 
of which is to be loaned to young men of the char- 
acter I mention." With that gratefulness which 
was to the last an animating principle of his life, 
the old man made special provision for the college 
at Dahlonega, and for the mountain section, the 
home of his struggling youth. He wrote to the 
trustees, "This was the theater of my early strug- 
gle with poverty, and I wish to pay its people who 
have sympathized with and supported me in every 
emergency, this small tribute of my grateful recol- 
lections." To these ends, he created the Charles 
McDonald Brown Fund by a donation of $50,000 
to the University of Georgia. Already nearly 
one hundred young men have been the beneficiaries 
of that gift to poor but worthy and ambitious 
youth. Who can estimate the light of the mind it 
has kindled, the love of learning it has fostered, 
the nobility of character it has created, the bless- 
ings to all the future it may bestow. 

Of this great man it may be said that no one ever 
heard him utter a profane or an impure word, or 
suggest an unclean thought. Receiving his intel- 
lectual and legal training at a period of our history 
when most were taught that the supreme obliga- 
tion of citizenship was to the State, the dominant 
principle of his patriotism was love for Georgia, 



268 JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 

love for her people, and particularly for her plain 
people. 

To the devotedness of his friendships, and to 
the beautiful development in his nature of the 
principle of gratitude, even for favors the most 
trivial, there are thousands yet living who can 
gratefully testify. 

But a few days before he passed to his reward, I 
stood by his bedside. Although he was bended 
with the long agony of his suffering, I ventured a 
word of encouragement and hope. "No, Judge," 
he sadly replied, "when I was in the railroad busi- 
ness I once talked with the master mechanic at our 
shops about the repair of an old engine. He said, 
'Governor, it's no use, the old machine is worn 
out.' That is the way with me now." It was 
but too true. That marvelous machine impelled 
by the mortal powers of Joseph E. Brown was at 
last worn out and worn out in the service of his 
people. 

The supreme value of his noble life is the inspi- 
ration and encouragement it affords our country's 
youth. It makes plain, the creation of character, 
and the achievements possible to the sons of those, 
the story of whose ancestry is recorded in the short 
and simple annals of the poor. 

To contemplate the successive pictures which 
present his marvelous career has been a grateful 
task, but those scenes upon which I love to "brood 
with miser care" do not relate so much to the days 
of its greatness as of its beginning. On the day 
of his funeral, among the thousands who loved him 
massed in Georgia's Representatives' Hall, I stood 
beside the venerable form, majestic in the peaceful- 
ness of death, and beheld for the last time the 



JOSEPH EMERSON BROWN 269 

noble face now made ethereal as if by the last 
caresses of angel hands which had borne the 
loosened spirit to the home eternal in the Heavens 
to hear the words of the Master, "Well done: 
thou good and faithful servant: enter thou into 
the joys of thy Lord." Even then irresistible 
thoughts and words were of his boyhood in the re- 
mote sequestered vale; of his humble home, such 
homes as sent forth Andrew Jackson and Abra- 
ham Lincoln. And now, beyond the azure moun- 
tains, and through the vista of all the years, I see 
the boy as with untiring hand he turns the spinning- 
wheel, as he swings the axe, as he guides the plow, 
as in sportive moments he breasts the bright waters 
of the mountain stream, or when worn with toil, he 
bathes his weary feet in its shining shallows. And 
my heart goes out to him, as followed by the long- 
ing and loving eyes of mother and father, he waves 
them a brave farewell, and with his little oxen up 
and over the mountain disappears from their sight, 
to enter on that great life I have attempted to de- 
scribe, on that mission for humanity for which the 
God of nature had designed him. Oh, my young 
countrymen, contemplate his character and dwell 
upon his career, for 

"Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime." 



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